American Notes MALPRACTICE

In 1982 a physician at Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base hospital told Karen Scott, then almost eight months pregnant with her second child, that she needed her cervix sewn shut to prevent premature birth. The diagnosis was faulty, and the operation resulted in an infection that destroyed some of the unborn child's brain cells. Born six weeks prematurely, Johnathan Scott is afflicted with a form of cerebral palsy known as spastic quadriplegia. Although he is mentally alert, Johnathan, now eight years old, will never walk or develop normally.

Two years later, Scott filed a $35 million damage suit against the Federal Government. In 1986 her lawyers offered to settle the case for $3.5 million. But the Reagan Justice Department balked at the settlement because of an ongoing effort to hold down the Government's costs in liability suits. That year a federal judge awarded the Scotts $11.1 million in damages. The Government appealed, but last week, fearful that the court would not reduce the award much if at all, the Bush Administration decided to settle the case for $8.5 million. That was "the most efficient way" of settling the dispute, explained a Justice Department spokesman. Said Karen Scott: "I don't think I'll ever get over my anger. Johnathan should be out in the yard playing with his eleven-year-old brother."