| Chiropractor settles suit, pays patient $750,000 |
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JANUARY 26, 2001 THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT ARCHIVES CHIROPRACTOR SETTLES SUIT, PAYS PATIENT $750,000 Published: Friday, January 26, 2001 © 2001 Landmark Communications, Inc. A chiropractor who apparently twisted a patient's neck so hard that it caused a brain stem stroke has agreed to pay the patient $750,000. Chiropractor Mark Soccio and his practice, Pembroke Chiropractic, agreed to the medical malpractice settlement in mid-trial in Virginia Beach Circuit Court. The settlement was reached last month, on the trial's fifth day, just before closing arguments. It was reported recently in Virginia Lawyers Weekly, a legal newspaper.
The settlement is close to the $1 million maximum in Virginia for medical malpractice claims at the time of the injury, 1998. It is now $1.5 million. The patient, Lynette V. Lathrop, was hospitalized in critical condition after the stroke on December 16, 1998, according to a written summary by her attorneys, John W. Drescher and Edwin J. Rafal. She remained hospitalized for a week, then spent a month in a Newport News rehabilitation center and two months in an Oklahoma rehabilitation center. She still has problems with her memory, sight and walking, and she has weakness in the left arm and shoulder. Soccio could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Dante M. Filetti, declined to comment. Before trial, Soccio offered $100,000 to settle the case. The eventual settlement of $750,000 was more than Lathrop would have accepted before trial, her attorneys wrote. The case was settled confidentially, but details of the trial and settlement were published recently in Virginia Lawyers Weekly, except for the names of the parties. That case summary matches the case that was tried in November and December in Virginia Beach. Drescher said he could not comment beyond what was published in the legal newspaper.
Lathrop sought treatment for neck and back pain in May 1998. For six months, the chiropractor performed 30 "high-velocity, low-amplitude chiropractic neck adjustments" on Lathrop, according to the case summary. Lathrop began complaining of severe headaches and neck pain after that. One week after the severe pain began, Soccio gave Lathrop another "adjustment" and Lathrop suffered a brain stem stroke. Soccio told Lathrop's friend, who had accompanied her to the office. to take her to the nearest emergency room, where she was admitted in critical condition. Later, doctors said the stroke was caused by tearing of the inner lining of a spinal artery. "There was no dispute that one or more of the December chiropractic adjustments caused the dissection leading to the stroke," Lathrop's attorneys wrote in the case summary. Lathrop has no memory of the last treatment because of the stroke. At trial, a key defense witness, an expert in chiropractic care, testified at first that Soccio did not violate Virginia's standard of care, then changed his opinion on cross-examination. The case was settled the next day, just before it would have reached the jury.
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Awarded: $750,000 |
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