HB 481

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act for the relief of Rhonda A. Hughes by Escambia
3	County; providing for a county appropriation to compensate
4	Rhonda A. Hughes for injuries sustained as a result of the
5	negligence of a county employee; providing a limitation on
6	the payment of attorney's and lobbying fees and costs;
7	providing an effective date.
8
9	WHEREAS, at the time of the incident which resulted in her
10	injury, Rhonda A. Hughes was suffering from an undiagnosed
11	disease of dysautonomia, a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous
12	system that can result in such symptoms as vague but disturbing
13	aches and pains; faintness or even fainting spells; fatigue;
14	tachycardia; hypotension; sweating; dizziness; blurred vision;
15	numbness and tingling; and anxiety and depression, and
16	WHEREAS, on September 25, 2002, Ms. Hughes was in a retail
17	store and started to suffer from confusion, dizziness, blurred
18	vision, and faintness to such an extent that she sat down on the
19	floor, and
20	WHEREAS, the store manager called for emergency medical
21	services and an Escambia County emergency medical services
22	vehicle was dispatched to Ms. Hughes' location, and
23	WHEREAS, the lead emergency medical technician (EMT) on the
24	scene concluded that Ms. Hughes was suffering a possible drug
25	overdose and decided that the proper emergency treatment would
26	be an injection of naloxone hydrochloride, and
27	WHEREAS, instead of naloxone hydrochloride, the EMT
28	injected mivacurium chloride, a paralytic agent that caused Ms.
29	Hughes to struggle for her breath almost to the point of
30	collapsing into full respiratory arrest, and
31	WHEREAS, approximately 10 minutes elapsed before the EMT
32	realized that Ms. Hughes was not breathing sufficiently on her
33	own and started artificial ventilation, causing Ms. Hughes to
34	suffer from an anoxic brain injury, and
35	WHEREAS, Ms. Hughes filed a lawsuit against Escambia County
36	alleging that the EMT was negligent and that the county was
37	responsible for the EMT's actions, and the county in its answer
38	to the complaint admitted liability for the EMT's negligent
39	actions, and
40	WHEREAS, the encephalopathy resulting from the anoxic brain
41	injury caused Ms. Hughes to have a loss of cognitive function
42	including problems with confusion, memory, concentration, and
43	slowed cognitive processing, and
44	WHEREAS, two neurophysiologists who tested Ms. Hughes agree
45	that the dysautomony, which is stable and controlled, would not
46	cause the type of ongoing cognitive problems that she is
47	experiencing and support the opinions of Ms. Hughes'
48	psychiatrist and physician, who specializes in treating
49	dysautonomia, that her significant cognitive decline is due to
50	encephalopathy resulting from the EMT's negligence, and
51	WHEREAS, Ms. Hughes' psychiatrist has opined that her loss
52	of cognitive function will require daily ongoing care and
53	treatment for the remainder of her life and that the amount of
54	care and treatment could increase as she ages, and
55	WHEREAS, Escambia County has agreed to submit to a consent
56	judgment for $200,000, of which the county will pay $100,000
57	pursuant to the limits of liability set forth in s. 768.28,
58	Florida Statutes, and for which the payment of the remainder is
59	conditioned upon the passage of a claim bill by the Legislature
60	in the amount of $100,000 in favor of Ms. Hughes, NOW,
61	THEREFORE,
62
63	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
64
65	Section 1.  The facts stated in the preamble to this act
66	are found and declared to be true.
67	Section 2.  Escambia County is authorized and directed to
68	appropriate from county funds not otherwise encumbered and draw
69	a warrant in the sum of $100,000 payable to Rhonda A. Hughes as
70	compensation for injuries and damages sustained due to the
71	negligence of an employee of the county, as agreed to by the
72	parties in a consent judgment.
73	Section 3.  Any amount paid by the county pursuant to the
74	waiver of sovereign immunity permitted under s. 768.28, Florida
75	Statutes, and this award is intended to provide the sole
76	compensation for all present and future claims arising out of
77	the factual situation described in the preamble to this act
78	which resulted in the injury to Rhonda A Hughes. The total
79	amount paid for attorney's fees, lobbying fees, costs, and other
80	similar expenses relating to this claim may not exceed 25
81	percent of the amount awarded under section 2 of this act.
82	Section 4.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.