Articles

Taking care of Destiny's future
(As reported in the Daily Herald, 12/3/02)
By Harry Hitzeman Daily Herald Staff Writer

Destiny Wright knew something was wrong when her daughter Dania had a seizure immediately after she was born on Feb. 5, 1998.

Months after they came home, Dania wasn't rolling over or sitting up and doing things growing infants do.

"Right after she was born, she was barely alive," recalled Wright, 34, of Streamwood.

From a distance now, Dania looks like a normal child. But even though she is nearing her fifth birthday, she functions like a 6- to 9-month-old.

She can't walk or crawl and has a vocabulary of three words: mama, dada and ga-ga. She can only hear low tones.

Her lack of skills are a result of severe brain damage she suffered just days before she was born.

Wright agreed this week to a $6 million settlement that involves a Bloomingdale-based medical group and GlenOaks Medical Center in Glendale Heights. Her lawsuit charged negligence during her prenatal care.

Wright said the money, if used wisely, will help take care of Dania if something happens to her or her husband, Charles Atkins.

"Dania is a beautiful little girl. I love her to death. With the proper care, the money will help a lot. That's the final part of it
- making sure she's taken care of if something happens to us," said Wright, a former Bloomingdale resident.

Under the settlement, reached in Cook County circuit court just before the case headed to a jury trial, medical groups and doctors will pay the girl a little more than $5 million.

GlenOaks Hospital will also pay $900,000, court records show.

Wright's lawyer, Kurt Lloyd, said Dania's injuries could easily have been avoided, but she was shuffled between numerous doctors, a midwife and an ultrasound technician who failed to address her dangerous condition.

"They passed this patient around like a hot potato," Lloyd said Friday.

According to court records, Wright went to GlenOaks on Feb. 1, 1998, because she noticed less kicking and other movement from her unborn baby.

A routine nonstress test showed a decreasing pulse on the fetus, a condition that suggests amniotic fluid may be low, Lloyd said. Instead of ordering an amniotic fluid test or inducing labor, doctors sent Wright home.

During the next four days, four doctors, a certified-nurse midwife and an ultrasound technician passed over Wright's condition until the emergency delivery, Lloyd said.

Lloyd said the low amniotic fluid resulted in the umbilical cord becoming kinked, depriving the fetus of precious oxygen.

"In my experience, it's one of the biggest ball drops I've ever seen. The patient passed through so many physicians and so many people dropped the ball," he said.

None of the defendants admitted liability in the Dec. 2 settlement.

Several attorneys said the payment was to avoid a jury trial that could have resulted in a larger monetary verdict.

Daniel Cray, attorney for the DeMir Group and Dora Pineda, an ultrasound technician named in the suit, said there was no disputing the serious injuries to Dania Wright, but exactly who was responsible was another matter.

"There was a question as to who, if anyone, was liable for this," Cray said.

Sherry Arrigo, an attorney representing GlenOaks, said the hospital was a minor player in the lawsuit.

"The patient was seen at the doctor's office after the hospital visit and the doctors did not follow up on abnormal tests," Arrigo said.

"There are no claims and were no claims that there was any negligence by the hospital in regard to the delivery. The damage to the fetus had occurred earlier than that," she said.

Michael Code is the attorney for Linda Anderson, who was the doctor on call when Wright first went to the hospital.

Anderson, who paid $1 million to settle, was not Wright's doctor and was delivering another baby at another hospital when she was called by GlenOaks officials, Code said. Code said Anderson acted properly by sending Wright home because the test had relatively routine results and she had a doctor's appointment the next day.

Attorneys for other parties named in the lawsuit could not be reached for comment Friday.

Wright and her family, which includes son Deonte, 11, and Robyn, 9, are considering a move to Tennessee so they can be closer to her husband's family.

Even if they don't move out of state, they still must find a house that is handicapped accessible.

Visits to physical, occupational and speech therapists will continue for Dania. One day she might be able to use a walker and ask for food when she's hungry, her mother said.

Seizures range from one per day to a dozen.

Wright sometimes feels cheated. She used to feel ashamed that Dania couldn't do what other kids do. That was until Wright saw other children with worse disabilities in Dania's class.

"I'm not ashamed of her. I love her to death. It saddens me because I wish I could reach her mentally," Wright said. "I wonder how much does she understand outside her world."