Transvestite's Mother Wins $2.9 Million In Suit Against City For Malpractice On Her Deceased Son

A jury recently awarded $2.9 million in damages to the mother of Tyrone Michael Hunter, a transvestite who died from injuries received in a traffic accident after District of Columbia paramedics refused to treat him (JET, August 28, 1995).

Jurors also ruled that Hunter received negligent care at D.C. General Hospital where an emergency room doctor failed to properly diagnose and treat him.

"It really wasn't about money. It was about justice," said Margie Hunter, Tyrone's mother, who sued the city for $10 million, alleging discrimination and malpractice.

Mr. Hunter, better known as Tyra, was hurt in a car crash three years ago. When emergency workers discovered his male genitalia, they withheld critical treatment, according to witness testimony and a closing argument in a wrongful death suit in D.C. Superior Court.

"Mr. Hunter was conscious. He was sitting up," attorney Richard F. Silber recently told the eight-member jury during his closing arguments. ".... When a firefighter cut his pants leg and discovered that this person who looks for all intents and purposes looks like a female is a male, he stopped working on him."

But the District's attorney, Steven Anderson, during his closing arguments, denied that the worker's reaction contributed to Hunter's death.

Hunter, 24, died August 7, 1995, approximately two hours after the fatal hit-and-run accident.

Margie Hunter's lawsuit charged that a D.C. General Hospital emergency room doctor failed to diagnose Hunter's injuries and follow the nationally accepted standard of care. Silber criticized the doctor, saying he misread X-rays that are now missing, decided against inserting a chest tube to drain blood that pooled near his heart and did not give Hunter four units of blood that were available.