Miramar Teen Who Had All Her Limbs Amputated Awarded $12.6M
Jury found hospital, mother to blame
Saturday, Jan 14, 2012 | Updated 5:20 PM EDT
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Is the way we select our judges the best way to arrive at a judiciary chosen from a wide spectrum of the population?
A teenager who lost all her limbs as a result of a vaccination error in 1998 was awarded more than $12 million by a Miami-Dade Circuit Court Friday, although she will only be able to collect a portion of that money, reported the Sun Sentinel.
Shania Rolle’s two arms and two legs were amputated 13 years ago when she was found to have blood clots in all the limbs and they were infected with gangrene.
A jury made the judgment against the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine where the teen was administered a vaccination that was meant to prevent infections but that was five-months expired, reported the newspaper.
"It was a medication error," Attorney Crane Johnstone, who represented Rolle, told the newspaper. "She developed the very disease they were supposed to inoculate her against."
The jury found the medical assistant who injected Rolle and her doctor to be partially at fault but also put 40 percent of the blame on her mother, who UM’s attorneys said failed to give Rolle enough medication to prevent infections, reported the newspaper.
According to the verdict form the judge said he would make the appropriate reduction in the damages awarded based on that finding, the Sentinel reported.
Attorneys for Rolle, who is now in high school, said they expect UM to appeal the judgment.
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