Stroke Misdiagnosis Results in Nearly $217 Million Jury Award for Patient

By Daniel Hawn

Published on October 05, 2006

Allan Navarro visited Tampa's University Community Hospital complaining of nausea, headache, dizziness, and double vision in August of 2000. He was diagnosed by the attending ER physician with sinusitis and released from the hospital. By the following afternoon Navarro had returned and was in need of surgery to relieve brain swelling. He subsequently spent three months in a coma.

At the age of 50, Navarro is now confined to a wheelchair and, due to brain damage, is in danger of suffocating every time he swallows food.

A three-week long civil trial culminated in the jury awarding Navarro and his family $116.7 million in compensatory damages and an additional $100.1 million in punitive damages. Dr. Michael P. Austin and two physicians’ groups responsible for providing ER service were named as defendants in the suit. The groups have since disbanded.

Navarro's family plans to donate all of the punitive damages to charities dedicated to assisting people with spinal cord and brain injuries, citing justice as the only motivation for the lawsuit.

Austin’s insurance company has claimed that it has no responsibility to cover the cost of the damages, stating that the doctor was in breach of his contract. Steve Yerrid, the Navarro family's attorney, plans to pursue litigation against the insurance company in the near future.

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