Following a bout with cancer, Navy veteran Susan Atkisson received reconstructive breast surgery on April 19, 2007, at the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center. While in recovery at VAMC, she suffered a morphine overdose and prolonged period of respiratory depression. This led to an episode of hypoxemia which caused Susan Atkisson to suffer a permanent brain injury.
Due to her injuries, Atkisson requires permanent medical care, therapy and treatment. She will also require future attendant care, supervision and assistance because her brain injury makes her dangerous to herself and others, and also because she cannot properly care for herself due to significant lapses in judgment, memory and executive function.
Susan Atkisson and her husband, John Atkisson, brought a medical malpractice case against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act. 28 U.S.C. 2674. The case was tried as a bench trial. The court awarded the plaintiff and her husband a total of $1,674,242 in damages. The award included $924,242 for past and future medical care and $750,000 for past and future pain and suffering.
Ratzan Weissman & Boldt have obtained more than $200 million in verdicts and settlements. Our firm is dedicated to honorable and unyielding representation of patients, consumers, and catastrophically injured individuals in state and federal courts. These cases are examples of the achievements of our firm’s attorneys. All are real cases. However, these examples should not be taken as a guarantee that the same results would be achieved in another case.