Tort Reform..Preview of things to come.

A year and a half ago, I was in El Paso Texas, when I got a blinding headache, which made me vomit and get dizzy. My eye didn’t react to light. My sister took me to the emergency room and 2 doctors said it was Bell’s Palsy, a temporary paralysis that would go away on it’s own. After an MRI They gave me codine, and told me to check with my doctor when I went home to NY.
The codine made me dizzy and nauseous. I couldn’t eat, just drink cold water and hold ice to my head. Two days later I went back to the ER. They gave me a CAT Scan. Nothing. They said it was nerves, and again they said I should follow up in NYC. They prescribed anti-anxiety medication.
When I got home, I went to my doctor who sent me to a neurologist, who sent me to a brain surgeon who said “ you’re getting operated on in the morning.” He did an angiogram, and found the aneurysm which had been sitting in my head waiting to explode. After cranial surgery, I went home to recouperate.
At one of my many followup visits, the doctor was very angry. He said they had used the wrong tests. As it was, I would probably be seeing funny for the rest of my life. I would be squinting like someone with bad cateracts, and I’d always have to wear sunglasses in bright light, due to a permanently frozen retina. He told me I could have died, and I that I should sue. From a doctor, no less.

My sister recommended a medical malpractice attorney in Texas. I called. The attorney said it was too late. I asked if the statute of limitations had expired. She said, no, it was just that Texas’s tort reform was already in place, making it almost impossible to sue. She said she’d have to deposit 15 to 20 thousand cash, just to have the case heard, and with less than a year to work on the case, she said it was too risky.


I stumble around sometimes, if it’s too light or dark. When I look up, it’s like looking thru a kalidescope. But I am blessed. I’m alive. Those doctors are probably still working in the ER. The next patient who walks in that hospital with an aneurysm may not be so lucky to get a second opinion in New York City. And if they die or are crippled from the aneurysm, their families may not be entitled to any settlement, thanks to tort reform.