As we have been alerting you, SB 863 has come out of the judiciary committee and is expected to be heard on the senate floor Tuesday. Send a message to your senator and tell them we should trust juries, not politicians, to determine what is fair and just.
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Many people think these kinds of things will never happen to them. Meet the Wehagens. They are constituents of Sen. Anthony Sykes, R-Newcastle, who is author of SB 863. They have spoken out against SB 863 as it would significantly limit the damages they would receive for losing their son. As a child, Clayton has no noneconomic damages, and he could have become anything he wanted. Instead, under SB 863, which awaits consideration on the Senate floor, he would be limited to medical costs and $250,000 for a lifetime of suffering and lost opportunities.
"Everyday pain and suffering that we go through - I don't wish it on anybody," Joe Wehagen said. "Just imagine how much worse we'd be off with this tort reform, and imagining somebody else having to go through that ... I wouldn't wish it on my worse enemy."
Clayton Wehagen was a typical 9-month-old child before a bout of pneumonia led to a medication error and incapacitating brain injury.
The child's parents, Laynie and Joe, took him to the emergency room, at his pediatrician's recommendation. Clayton was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit later that day. The child was connected to a ventilator, which was supposed to help him recover from the respiratory infection.
Clayton's problems began when nurses established an arterial line to check his blood gasses. An arterial IV bag is supposed to contain saline and heparin, which keeps blood from clotting the line. Instead, Clayton's bag contained a sugar, dextrose. Four days later the bag was replaced with another bag with the same solution inside. Finally, a nurse who checked the IV bag realized that it contained the wrong solution. However, by the time a nurse discovered the error, the child had suffered from seizures and irreversible brain injury.
Clayton can't walk or speak. He must be fed through a tube. His vision was greatly affected. The excessive insulin caused his swelling in his brain, which in turn caused brain cells to die, forever affecting his cognition and mental development. He will never be able to care for himself and will require assistance for the rest of his life. He will never be able to sit up on his own or recognize his parents' faces.
Send a message to your senator and tell them we should trust juries, not politicians, to determine what is fair and just.
CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION
