A 28-year-old New York City woman was awarded a whopping $172 million for a botched EMS response in 1998 that left her severely handicapped, the New York Daily News reported.
Tiffany Applewhite has been unable to walk or talk since the age of 12 when EMS failed to properly respond to a 911 call at her Bronx home. The city's blunder left her "trapped in her own body," Tom Moore, Applewhite's attorney, told the newspaper. A Bronx Supreme Court jury awarded Applewhite the record-breaking amount on Wednesday following a three week trial.
"They broke every rule in the book," Moore said.
Emergency responders were first called to Applewhite's home when she had a bad reaction to a cortisone shot administered by a home nurse. The shot was to treat a recurring condition in her eye, the Daily News reported.
It took six minutes for EMTs to arrive at the fifth-floor apartment, during which Applewhite struggled to breath. But responders did not have an oxygen mask or defibrillator. They also did not call for backup.
"She went from respiratory arrest into cardiac arrest," Moore told the newspaper.
Applewhite's mother suggested they take her daughter to Montefiore Medical Center, located two miles from their home.
The EMTs denied the mother's request, saying they needed to call a special ambulance. But the ambulance did to not come until 20 minutes later.
"If they'd just taken the girl to the hospital, they could have saved her brain," Moore said according to the newspaper.
It took 16 years for Applewhite's case to finally reach a verdict due to appeals that kept delaying the trial. The delay prevented Applewhite from receiving therapy to help her condition, Moore said.
The city said it plans on appealing the decision.
"While this is a tragic case, we believe that the jury's verdict is not consistent with the law," Fay Leoussis, attorney for Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration, told the New York Post. "The city will appeal."
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