joeydamonmom2
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? I currently live in Arizona, but the suit was filed in Indiana.
Ok, so when my son was 4 months old he started having large Grand Mal Seizures, we lived in a small town in Indiana and did not have a pediatric Neurologist locally. We had to see an adult Neuro, anyway, the first medicine they put him on was Phenobarbitol and then after that wasn't working they put him on Tegretol (carmazepine). The pharmacy was a very large "chain" and had just opened. They filled the carmazepine once and it was fine, the second time I had it filled,it didn't look right. I called and the pharmacist just said "to shake the bottle". Tegretol separates VERY fast, within seconds, so I thought something was wrong.We were new at this and I had remembered reading that different "generic drugs" can have different consistensies and different colors depending on the company. So I figured it was fine. 14 Days later my son had a "status event", to which he almost died. Over 45 minutes of constant seizure, he was only 6 months old. He had to be intibated, a g- tube placed because of all the drugs they had to give him to stop the event. Anyway, the PICU doctor came into the room and asked if I had been giving him his medication, I said of course. She said "well then why does he not have ANY Tegretol in his blood?". I had no clue, and she was about to call Social Services on me, but my pediatrician had been the one to stick up for me saying" no way she would never do that, check the script", At this time I was so distraught I hadn't even thought about the script, so after explaining what I had discovered earlier in the month to the PICU doctor,they sent the medication to a lab to have it tested. It came back 0.008% medication, which she stated was essentially water and that he had, had, this "status event" due to the withdrawl of this medication. I called an attorney when we left the hospital a week later.
Ok so fast forward three years later, the "pharmacy" never took my deposition but we had set up a mediation hearing for settlement, there "experts" had found a loop hold, that it does not state in any medical book or any medical case reported that "tegretol has withdrawl effects" and that if this had happened on any other seizure medication my son would not be alive today. That he had had that "event" on his own. And that being on the medication was probably making his Epilepsy worse, all of this was also confirmed through my docs as well. We are not money hungry people and after very stressful negotiations, I just said forget it, settle on the 35 K. We had moved to Arizona last year, for my son, his Epilepsy is severe and the Childrens Hospital could no longer help us. We needed a bigger city. I had even asked my Neuro team here to look at the file and they "unfortunately agree". there is no way to "prove" that Damon would not have had this seizure anyway and that he shouldn't have been on the drug in the first place. Even though the "pharmacy" had already admitted that the drug had been filled incorrectly, apparently that did not matter. It like they are saying that if a person who has terminal cancer, dies due to medication toxicity, they would say, "well he was going to die anyway, so it's not our fault."
So, we settled and now they just notified me that the money is being set up in a "guardianship", both mine and my son's name is on the law suit. But what exactly does this mean? What are the rules on the money? I am not one of those parents who wants to spend there babies money but we have quite a bit of credit card debt, for my son, and I am unable to work. He needs 24 hour care, he has seizures of over 100 plus a day. Thanks for listening to me rant and any advice would be great.
Ok, so when my son was 4 months old he started having large Grand Mal Seizures, we lived in a small town in Indiana and did not have a pediatric Neurologist locally. We had to see an adult Neuro, anyway, the first medicine they put him on was Phenobarbitol and then after that wasn't working they put him on Tegretol (carmazepine). The pharmacy was a very large "chain" and had just opened. They filled the carmazepine once and it was fine, the second time I had it filled,it didn't look right. I called and the pharmacist just said "to shake the bottle". Tegretol separates VERY fast, within seconds, so I thought something was wrong.We were new at this and I had remembered reading that different "generic drugs" can have different consistensies and different colors depending on the company. So I figured it was fine. 14 Days later my son had a "status event", to which he almost died. Over 45 minutes of constant seizure, he was only 6 months old. He had to be intibated, a g- tube placed because of all the drugs they had to give him to stop the event. Anyway, the PICU doctor came into the room and asked if I had been giving him his medication, I said of course. She said "well then why does he not have ANY Tegretol in his blood?". I had no clue, and she was about to call Social Services on me, but my pediatrician had been the one to stick up for me saying" no way she would never do that, check the script", At this time I was so distraught I hadn't even thought about the script, so after explaining what I had discovered earlier in the month to the PICU doctor,they sent the medication to a lab to have it tested. It came back 0.008% medication, which she stated was essentially water and that he had, had, this "status event" due to the withdrawl of this medication. I called an attorney when we left the hospital a week later.
Ok so fast forward three years later, the "pharmacy" never took my deposition but we had set up a mediation hearing for settlement, there "experts" had found a loop hold, that it does not state in any medical book or any medical case reported that "tegretol has withdrawl effects" and that if this had happened on any other seizure medication my son would not be alive today. That he had had that "event" on his own. And that being on the medication was probably making his Epilepsy worse, all of this was also confirmed through my docs as well. We are not money hungry people and after very stressful negotiations, I just said forget it, settle on the 35 K. We had moved to Arizona last year, for my son, his Epilepsy is severe and the Childrens Hospital could no longer help us. We needed a bigger city. I had even asked my Neuro team here to look at the file and they "unfortunately agree". there is no way to "prove" that Damon would not have had this seizure anyway and that he shouldn't have been on the drug in the first place. Even though the "pharmacy" had already admitted that the drug had been filled incorrectly, apparently that did not matter. It like they are saying that if a person who has terminal cancer, dies due to medication toxicity, they would say, "well he was going to die anyway, so it's not our fault."
So, we settled and now they just notified me that the money is being set up in a "guardianship", both mine and my son's name is on the law suit. But what exactly does this mean? What are the rules on the money? I am not one of those parents who wants to spend there babies money but we have quite a bit of credit card debt, for my son, and I am unable to work. He needs 24 hour care, he has seizures of over 100 plus a day. Thanks for listening to me rant and any advice would be great.