A Young Victim Of Medical Malpractice Tells Her Story

Representing the victims of medical malpractice today is much more difficult because of the continuous efforts to cap the damages of the most severely injured patients. Love Ministries has posted an email from Heather Lewinski, a young victim.

Medical Malpractice Legislation – People Over Profits

Please read the below email from medical malpractice victim Heather Lewinski.

As the Senate prepares for debate on legislation that will restrict the rights of people like Heather, we need to make sure her voice is heard. Please read, post to blogs, and forward to as many people as possible.

Excerpts from Heather’s email:

My name is Heather Lewinski. I am a 20-year-old college student from Pittsburgh, PA. I recently saw President Bush on television saying that Congress should pass a law saying that people who are injured by medical l mistakes should never receive more than $250,000 for their pain and suffering. Unfortunately, I know from personal experience a patient’s pain and suffering can be way more than $250,000. When I was 8 years old, a doctor performed a surgery on my face that I later learned was unnecessary. He told my parents that he had completed this surgery successfully on many other patients with my condition and that he would be able to take care of my problem with two easy surgeries with no visible scars.

To our horror, my parents and I later found out that he had never done the surgery before and that no doctor in the whole United States had ever recommended it.

The first time I took the bandages off my face and looked in the mirror I just cried. He tried to do another surgery to fix it, but that only made things worse. The corner of my mouth was all pulled down. I looked like I had a stroke.

Since then, I have been forced to undergo 14 major surgeries on my face to try to correct what he did. I live with horrible scars all over my face. I have had so much pain over the past ten years, I can’t even begin to tell you about all of it.

I heard that Congress is trying to pass a bill that would limit the pain of all injured people to $250,000. If you think each person should be treated as an individual, tell Congress by going to People Over Profits.

Please forward my story to others. I know that nothing can be done to change what happened to me, but I hope that if we keep the laws strong maybe people will be more careful in the future and no other little girl will have to go through what I have.