NC - U.S. agrees to pay 11-year-old N.C. girl $125,000 for amputated thumb

los2188

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Baeyla Gutierrez
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Don't expect Baeyla Gutierrez to tell you how she really lost her left thumb.

Medical malpractice doesn't cut it on the playground, the 11-year-old said.

But piranhas? That'll work.

"She's tired of people asking," explained Malanena Gutierrez, who has heard her daughter give more than a few outlandish stories regarding her missing digit.

"She's told people it was bitten off by a wolf. She's said her dad bit it off," the mother of four said with a laugh.

The federal government agreed Thursday to pay the Gutierrezes $125,000 to settle a lawsuit over Baeyla's thumb, which was amputated in 2011 after the then-7-year-old girl went to a Navy clinic in Norfolk for stitches.

U.S. District Judge Henry Morgan Jr. signed off on the agreement today after reviewing various documents related to the suit.

Karl Protil Jr., an attorney representing Baeyla's mother, explained that the settlement was the product of significant negotiations with the U.S. Attorney's Office. He stressed that the government denied fault and made a "pretty strong argument" for why its medical staff was not liable for what happened to the girl's thumb.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment.
http://hamptonroads.com/2015/05/how-does-11yearold-girl-explain-her-missing-thumb-piranhas-maybe
 
Way too little money. That is a permanent partial disability, which will limit her income more then that.

A friend of mine, her daughter was born with only 2 fingers on her left hand. She is now a family practitioner. :)
 
A friend of mine, her daughter was born with only 2 fingers on her left hand. She is now a family practitioner. :)

But this is already effecting this girls career options. She deserves way more money.

The lack of a thumb could derail Baeyla’s career plans. Before the amputation, she had wanted to join the military and become a corpsman. Maybe after that she could retire and work for the Department of Veterans Affairs, helping people like her grandfather – a Vietnam veteran.
 
She used to have the thumb and doesn't now. That's different than if she'd been born without the thumb neurologically and developmentally. IMO
 
When I look at the things some of our Vets have accomplished with far worse than having the tip of a thumb amputated.... well, I count my blessings. She will overcome this and she is young.
 
I meeeeean..... I see both sides of it. If I went in for stitches and lost a portion of a body part I'd want to be compensated too. But everyday people with far worse disability go out and do great things. I've also seen people with far less disability live on welfare their whole lives.
Soooo idk.


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