Why I filed to represent my daughter’s Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Idaho

               No, I am not a lawyer, just a mother who will stand up to anyone or anything that threatens to harm my children.  In 2012, I learned many disappointing facts about the judicial process in the US.  The most unsettling was the reality that justice eludes the process in many cases.  I took on my daughter’s case after the two attorneys representing her interests attempted to intimidate me into dismissing the case with prejudice, using altered medical records.

                I keep asking myself, why these two men thought they could so easily undermine us, especially when all the evidence shows that they lied.  Well, I realized after filing one petition after the other, that the processes in Idaho were set up so that defrauding a legal case was pretty simple to do.  All the lawyers had to do was undermine me, and lie on the expert witness.  Of course with my limited resources, I would not be able to stand against them. 

When I filed pro se to represent my daughter’s case I was given all of the legal documents.  They were not concerned because no one was going to hear me in Idaho.  I imagine that Idaho officials thought I would go away after their refusal to address my concerns and their success of portraying me as a misguided mother.  But I am not the average person, and I feel compelled to expose the corruption so that another family does not encounter the same issue. 

                It was difficult to watch my daughter struggle to regain cognitive and physical abilities while fighting politicians, lawyers and public servants who attempted to strip her of her civil right to legal recourse.  Many days, I wanted to scream, why me.
                As I attempted to keep my children focused and stand against the unethical processes in Idaho, I realized that many other families across this nation was fighting similar battles.  What is alarming, is that the number of patients being harmed and sometimes killed is rising, but there is little in the news about it.  There are no in-depth documentaries about the many lives lost each year.  Families are left traumatized by a system that has no compassion, and then undermines their loss by defrauded them to keep from being exposed.

                Mothers and fathers are losing children.  Children are losing parents.  Yet, the silent killers are protected and the patient and families are being written off as delusional.  Not so.  In my book “God’s Miracle Among Corruption in Idaho,” which will be released soon, the deception of the officials in Idaho is obvious.  I, myself, was portrayed as a misguided mother.  The many officials and boards I wrote to ignored the evidence, even said that my concerns were not founded.  Yet, the truth was in the files. 

                While the number of those who are responsible for negligence in the medical community is small, millions of patients are affected by them.  Another disappointing fact, their colleagues know who they are, but take a vow of silence to protect them.  Because this is a billion dollar industry, no one wants to really stand against them.  I am raising my voice, hopefully, so that others will not encounter what millions of others, like my family, have endured.  When I filed pro se to represent my daughter’s case, I never imagined that I would find that the process was corrupt.

                 

Protect Patient's Rights

Thanks to everyone who liked and reposted the post "The Affordable Care Act - A Mother's Appeal to President Obama. The appeal focuses on the part of the act pertaining to patients rights/medical malpractice torts, which was left in the hands of the states. In Idaho and other states patient's rights are not protected.

If you haven't read it, please do so, and make a comment or like it and pass it on. Like many of you, before we met with medical negligence, I worked, paid my insurance premiums and life was good. I never would have imagined what families go through when a doctor destroys the life of a patient. It still happens. I pray it does not happen to any of you. Something needs to be done to prevent it. Only a small percentage of doctors are accountable for preventable medical errors, but they affect millions of lives each year. Some patients die and others, like Robyn, are left disabled

The Affordable Care Act - A Mother’s Appeal to President Obama

Dear President Obama,

Recently, I downloaded a copy of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  I applaud you for your hard work in making insurance affordable to all citizens.  I know that many people attempted to undermine your efforts.  I am glad you succeeded in passing this act.  However, I was disappointed when I read the Sense of the Senate on Medical Malpractice Reform.  The reform of Medical Malpractice Statutes should not be left to the discretion of the states.

President Obama, in October 2007, my 13-year-old daughter’s dreams were destroyed by the negligence of a doctor in Idaho Falls, Idaho.  She was just entering her teenage years.  She was an honor student, as of matter of fact, the spring before she had a stroke, she was inducted into the honor society.  She was excited about all that life was showing her.  She also aspired to be an athlete.  She ran track and she was one of the fastest runner on her track team.

October 1, 2007, a neurologist prescribed Zomig to her for numbing sensations she had in her limbs.  On October 5, 2007, she was airlifted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, because she had a massive stroke.  On October 9, 2007, she was declared brain-dead.  We were told that the Robyn we knew was gone, that her spirit had left her body.  There are no words to explain how this devastated and forever changed the lives of my family and me.  Consequently, God allowed Robyn to live.

President Obama, I found out later that Zomig was only to be given to patients diagnosed with migraine headaches.  It was also not recommended for children. My daughter, Robyn, never had a migraine headache.  Nor, did she have headaches with the numbing sensations.  Robyn was actually diagnosed with a rare condition called MoyaMoya, which causes the carotid arteries to occlude causing transient ischemic attacks (mini strokes), which explained the numbing sensations.  Consequently, Zomig causes the constriction of the arteries too.  The Zomig prescribed by the neurologist acerbated her condition and caused a massive stroke.

In 2012, I discovered that her medical records had been changed to include a diagnosis of migraine headache.  This was revealed when the attorney representing Robyn’s interests in a malpractice case attempted to intimidate me into dismissing the case, with prejudice, six months before the trial date.  At this time, I realized that I was in the midst of systemic corruption in the medical and legal communities in Idaho. 

President Obama, I am a minority.  My daughter’s basic human rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness were stripped from her, and her right to civil recourse was silenced by the criminals within the legal system in Idaho.  As African Americans in Idaho, our rights were violated and the legal system in Idaho took an active role.  I have collected the information that the officials there were able to suppress.  I wrote a book and placed the evidence in the book, “God’s Miracle Among Corruption in Idaho.”  It should be out within a few weeks.  I hope you obtain a copy.  I would send you one but I doubt that you would get it. I am appealing to you in this blog in hopes that you will read this appeal and obtain a copy of the book.  I also pray that U.S. Attorney General Holder obtains a copy.

President Obama, if you do not step in and help, I am afraid that systems like the one that exists in Idaho, will continue to violate the basic human rights of patients. Too often, the rights of citizens are not protected.  Like many citizens, before my daughter’s stroke, I worked, paid my insurance premiums, and was content.  I could have never imagined what transpired in our lives in 2007-2012, in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

“God’s Miracle Among Corruption in Idaho,” will be out in a few weeks.  If the evidence was not there to support my claim, it would be difficult to believe that officials in Idaho committed these acts.

President Obama, I hope this post reaches you.

Sincerely,

Veverly Edwards