Six-year-old girl awarded $21 million after mother's death

Jet, August 7, 1995

Life can be hard when you're six years old and motherless. Just ask Tasia Roberts, whose mother died after Tasia's birth because of inappropriate medical attention.

But a Brooklyn jury tried to make life, financially, less complicated for the little girl who they recently awarded $21 million for the death of her mother, Dorothy Roberts.

"She asks me about her mother all the time," says Tasia's father, Troy Bryant. "She's always asking me things like did her mother ever hold her."

She didn't. She never had the chance.

Certainly, this is a sad story. A tragedy.

"Of course, it is a tragedy," says Bryant, who was engaged to marry Roberts before her death.

The only fairness, if there is any, is the verdict that was delivered in court by the jury.

Following a month-long trial, the jury needed only a few hours to deliberate before determining that New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation was responsible for Ms. Roberts' death at Woodhull Hospital and Medical Center in March 1989.

As a result of its decision, the jury awarded Tasia Roberts $5 million for the pain and suffering of her late mother, $2 million for her loss of earnings, $1 million for loss of her household services and $13 million for the loss of her care.

"I'm proud of the jury for having the courage to speak out against the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation," said attorney Judith Livingston, who represented Roberts' estate. "It was horrible, horrible, pain and suffering probably about as bad as could be imaginable. She was awake and alert and conscious throughout the day (that she died)."

The jury's verdict, asserted Livingston, should send a strong message to the health care community.

"We, the citizens of New York City, will not allow you to manage your hospitals in such a way that people get horrible inadequate care," said Livingston who already has been notified that the corporation will appeal the jury's verdict. "I can only hope that it sends a message that they have to treat people appropriately and if they don't they are going to be held accountable."

The tragedy began when Ms. Roberts, who was in labor, arrived at the hospital to deliver her baby, who was one week overdue.

"She started having pains and they sent her home," said Livingston.

The following day, after her water had broken, Roberts returned to the hospital and was admitted.

"She was making absolutely no progress. She was still in labor but the baby was not coming down the birth canal ... They realized that the only way the baby was going to be delivered was by doing a Caesarean section," explained Livingston, who also noted that when they finally performed the surgery hours later, they didn't have compatible blood to give her.

After giving birth to Tasia, Roberts' condition worsened. Her right lung began to bleed and she began coughing up blood, which eventually also got into her other lung.

"She basically drowned in her own blood through the course of the day," related Livingston. "We have a young woman in the hospital, she's coughing up blood, she's bleeding from her lungs, and they never even got a pulmonary doctor to look at her."

The incidents of malpractice, Livingston told Jet," are far greater than what the public realizes. In this one instance, Dorothy Roberts died an agonizing death over many hours and her daughter was deprived of a lifetime of what's most important - a mother's care, love and nurturing."

Emotionally, it has been difficult since Roberts' death, says Bryant, for both he and his daughter.

"It's hard being a father and a mother," he explains. "But it's not too hard when you know who her mother was. Her mother was that special mom. She always talked about Tasia. Long before Tasia was even conceived, we were talking about Tasia."

Now, he constantly tells his daughter about the beauty of her mother. Shows her pictures. Tells of her strengths and her goodness, he says. "She was a blessing to me."

From that blessing, he says he welcomed another: Tasia. "She is a blessing to me too," he says.

While she knows "that her mother is in heaven," said Bryant, she doesn't know about the jury's verdict. "Eventually, when she gets older, I'll let her know what the situation is and let her have her finances ... but I don't want that to change (things). I just want to keep that away from her for now. Let her grow up and live an average girl's life."