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Azle family wins suit involving twin sons

Melody McDonald, Star-Telegram A jury awarded $15 million to an Azle family after determining that doctors failed to diagnose and properly treat a condition that blinded their twin sons.

Hunter and Tyler Burt, who were born 10 weeks premature Dec. 26, 1996, developed retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a condition that occurs when blood vessels to the retina do not fully develop in some premature infants.

The condition either clears up on its own or requires cryotherapy or laser treatment to prevent blindness, said the Burts' attorney, Anna Kingsley Alvarado of Fort Worth. The twins' condition wasn't monitored or treated properly and the boys went blind, she said.

After a three-week trial that ended a week ago, the jury returned a verdict against Dr. Wayne Yee, Dr. Stephanie Perdue and Dr. Robert Gross, all of Tarrant County. It awarded damages to the now 4-year-old boys and their parents, Alyssha and Keith Burt.

"I think the verdict sends a message to physicians that all children deserve quality health care, and, if it is not received, they are going to be held accountable," Alvarado said. "This is a significant verdict in a medical malpractice case."

Defense attorneys have indicated that they will appeal.

The medical malpractice suit, filed Dec. 31, 1998, in District Judge Bob McGrath's court, alleged that Gross, a pediatric ophthalmologist, screened Hunter for ROP before he was released from Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital. The suit stated that Gross diagnosed Hunter with the initial stages of ROP but did not tell his parents. Tyler had already been discharged and was not examined by Gross.

Earl Harcrow, Gross' attorney, said in an interview that it was not Gross' responsibility, but another doctor's, to inform the parents of the findings.

"The neonatologist, Kim Smith, testified and acknowledged to the jury that it was his responsibility to tell the parents, and he did tell the parents that he had the initial stages of ROP," Harcrow said. "Dr. Kim Smith acknowledged that it wasn't Dr. Gross' responsibility to talk to the parents."

The suit blamed Yee, the boys' primary care physician after they left the hospital, for failing to recognize the critical nature of their condition and refer them to a pediatric ophthalmologist and retina surgeon.

The suit also blamed Perdue, who became their primary care physician in March 1997, for not referring the children to a pediatric ophthalmologist until several months after they were under her care, Alvarado said.

"By then, of course, it was too late," she said. "The pediatric ophthalmologist found them legally blind."

Perdue's attorney could not be reached to comment.

Yee's attorney, J. Frank Kinsel, said he and his client reached an out-of-court settlement with the family before the jury rendered its verdict. He declined to elaborate, but said, "Dr. Yee is a fine pediatrician. I thought everyone tried the case well and would imagine that some of the parties involved would appeal."

Harcrow, who has indicated that he might appeal, said he is having a "tremendous amount of difficulty understanding what the jury did."

"As a result of the jury's verdict, Dr. Gross, who is one of three doctors who screen kids for ROP in Dallas and Tarrant County, is no longer seeing children with ROP," he said. "So now, there are only two people in Dallas or Tarrant County screening for this condition."

Copyright 2001 Star-Telegram, Inc.
Record Number: 11020698