Medical Malpractice - In The News



To Care for Brain-Damaged Son
Navy Family to Get $15 Million

By Charles Memminger

HONOLULU - The family of a 10-year-old, brain-damaged boy will receive $15 million to support him during his lifetime under a special settlement with the federal government.

But the government will actually have to pay only $1.6 million, according to a U.S. Justice Department attorney.

The money will be put in a special tax-free account and payments to the family will come from interest generated by the investment. The payments will continue until the boy reaches 71 years of age, according to Brenda Green, the government attorney.

The settlement was reached in the case of Lt. Cmdr. Richard Tudor and Mari B. Tudor, whose son suffered brain damage during delivery at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital in September 1974.

The Tudors sued the federal government, charging the hospital with medical malpractice for allowing the boy to be born four weeks after he was due

U.S. JUDGE SAMUEL King presided over a non-jury trial in March 1983 in which the Tudor's attorneys, Mark Davis and Stanley Levin, presented evidence that the child's brain damage was the result of the government physician's miscalculation of Mrs. Tudor's due date.

The child suffers from chronic brain dysfunction and is not expected to recover from his injuries.

Last September, King ruled in favor of the Tudors and warded $1.9 million in damages. The government appealed the ruling, which led to this week's settlement.

THE GOVERNMENT WILL pay $550,000 in cash now and begin payments of $6,000 per month to the family for the care and treatment of the boy.

If the child lives to age 71, the family will end up receiving about $15 million. The Tudors' attorneys will receive 25 percent of the principal settlement, or $400,000.

Green said the government will end up paying no more than $1.6 million in the "structured settlement."

email Mark Davis