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Client Awarded After Training Nurse Is Pricked By Needle

Mar 14, 2005 | Staff | VerdictSearch New York Reporter

  Supreme Court, Twelfth Judicial District, Bronx County, New York

VANESSA SIMS & WARREN SIMS V. COMPREHENSIVE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP,

SOUNDVIEW HEALTH CENTER, BURNSIDE MEDICAL CENTER & ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC SCHOOL

No. 22015/00

DATE OF VERDICT/SETTLEMENT: March 14, 2005

TOPIC: NEGLIGENCE - NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION - NEGLIGENCE - NEGLIGENT TRAINING NURSE PRICKED BY NEEDLE AFTER DRAWING BLOOD FROM HIV PATIENT

SUMMARY:

  AWARD: $790,000

  RESULT: Verdict-Plaintiff

  The jury rendered a plaintiffs' verdict. Comprehensive, Soundview and Burnside were assigned a total of 75% liability, and Ultrasound was assigned a total of 25% liability. The plaintiffs were awarded a total of $790,000.

EXPERT WITNESSES:

  Plaintiff: Lewis Weiss; Infectious Diseases Mark Rubinstein, M.D.; Psychiatry; New York, NY Rosemary Nagler; Nursing

  Defendant: Scott Wetzler; Psychology/Counseling; New York, NY William B. Head, Jr.; Neuropsychiatry; Staten Island, NY

ATTORNEYS:

  Plaintiff: Dennis A. Breitner; Finz and Finz; Jericho, NY

  Defendant: Robert Wilkins; McCormick and Turpin; Pearl River, NY Harold McCartney; McCartney, McCartney and Kerrigan; Nyack, NY

JUDGE: Alexander W. Hunter

STATE: New York

COUNTY: Bronx County

INJURIES: Sims was pricked by a needle that had been used to draw blood from an HIV-positive patient. She was immediately administered an AIDS preventative and underwent counseling.

SUMMARY:

  Insurance Carrier: Zurich North America for Ultrasound

FACTS:

On July 6, 1999, plaintiff Vanessa Sims, 33, a nursing extern, was pricked by a needle while discarding it in a wall-mounted sharps container at Burnside Medical Center, in the Bronx. The needle had been used to draw blood from an HIV-positive patient.

Sims sued Burnside; the facility's owner, Comprehensive Community Development Corp.; the agency that operated the center, Soundview Health Center; and the nursing school in which she was enrolled, Ultrasound Diagnostic School. She alleged that her school was negligent in the training that it provided and that the remaining defendants were negligent in their supervision.

Sims claimed that she was trained on how to dispense needles into a table-mounted container. She also argued that the defendants failed to provide proper supervision and that she should not have been assigned to draw blood from an HIV-positive patient.

Sims' nursing expert testified that Ultrasound was negligent for failing to instruct her on how to use both a wall- and table-mounted sharps container. She also testified that, because of Sims' inexperience, Burnside should not have allowed her to draw blood from an HIV-positive patient unsupervised.

The defendants claimed that Sims was properly trained and that she was negligent for not watching where she was reaching. They presented a medical assistant who claimed that she supervised Sims draw blood on many occasions and that Sims was competent. However, the witness acknowledged that she did not supervise Sims on the date of the accident.

Even though Sims did not develop the HIV virus, she was required to undergo testing for the virus every four months for one year and once every six months for an additional year. She claimed that the trauma from the experience prevented her from entering the health-care profession, affected her sexual relationship with her husband and resulted in post-traumatic stress disorder.

Sims' expert psychiatrist testified that she suffered from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, which were causally related to the accident.

Sims sought recovery of damages for her emotional suffering and her diminution of earning capacity. Her husband, Warren, presented a loss-of-consortium claim. The jury was asked to award $1.75 million.

The defendants' expert psychiatrist testified that Sims' post-traumatic stress disorder would resolve.