Testimony in Mother’s Lawsuit Suggests State Officials Ignored Boy’s Over Medication
As Miami-Dade wrongful death attorneys, we were very interested to see a lengthy report in April 18’s Miami Herald about disturbing testimony in a wrongful death lawsuit. Martha Quesada is suing Rainbow Ranch, a group home for disabled children, and Dr. Steven L. Kaplan for the death of her severely autistic son, Denis Maltez. Maltez was 12 and had been under Rainbow Ranch’s care for four years when he died of serotonin syndrome, a rare condition that is exclusively caused by incorrect doses of psychiatric medication. The Herald’s story detailed some of the numerous charges made against Kaplan for his use of medication before Maltez died.
Maltez was under Kaplan’s treatment for about a year, after Rainbow Ranch changed his treatment from a team at Jackson Memorial Hospital, allegedly without his mother’s consent. Kaplan said in a deposition that he was told Maltez had been abandoned by his mother, which was not the case. However, Maltez did have physical and emotional outbursts that made him hard to control. Kaplan put the boy, who weighed 70 pounds, on adult doses of Zyprexa and Seroquel, both antipsychotics that were not approved for use in children. He also prescribed relatively high doses of the tranquilizer Klonopin and the mood stabilizer Depoakote. Two months later, caregivers started reporting that Maltez was sluggish in the mornings, and teachers reported him sleeping through class, which prompted an emergency room visit.
A number of Miami caregivers had expressed concerns by then that Kaplan’s patients were overmedicated, and no fewer than eight calls about Maltez had been placed to a state Department of Children and Families hotline. DCF, the Agency for Persons with Disabilities and the federal Agency for Healthcare Quality and Management all received complaints suggesting that Maltez was overmedicated, but each referred the case to another agency. On May 23, 2007, he died after getting into an altercation with a caregiver who restrained him on his stomach. After his death, the APD hired an outside psychiatrist who reported overmedication of 99% of Rainbow Ranch’s residents. Rainbow Ranch has since closed. Kaplan is still under scrutiny by several agencies, but is still in practice despite the Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office finding that Maltez died of overmedication.
As Fort Lauderdale wrongful death lawyers, we are disappointed that so many agencies couldn’t work together to take dangerous doctors away from their patients. As the article points out, doctors like Kaplan who take Medicaid’s notoriously small reimbursements are rare, which means administrators in homes like Rainbow Ranch can’t be very picky. That’s unfortunate, because children, disabled people and the elderly often can’t speak out when something is very wrong, as it may have been at Rainbow Ranch. Caregivers at homes and hospitals have to be the first line of defense when they notice shoddy care and intentional over-medication, and regulators need to step up when they get strong evidence that there’s a problem. If they don’t, tragedies like the needless death of Denis Maltez will continue to happen.
At Law offices of Sebastian John Balliro, P.A., we represent clients who have lost a loved one through someone else’s negligent or illegal actions. That includes intentional actions that lead to a death through gross negligence or serious mistakes by a caregiver. Our West Palm Beach wrongful death attorneys understand that no amount of money will ever bring back a lost loved one, and we would never suggest that it could. However, families often come to us to pursue a claim months after the fact, after they realize the legal and financial consequences of the death. In cases like this, families may have to pursue justice on their own because criminal prosecutors can’t or won’t file charges and state administrators won’t take a dangerous professional’s license away. In other cases, especially those involving a breadwinner, families may realize months later that the death has caused serious financial hardship and wish to hold the wrongdoer financially responsible.
Balliro offers free, confidential consultations to all potential clients, so you can learn about your options and your rights at no further risk. To set one up, please contact us through the Internet or call toll-free from anywhere in Florida at 1-866-INJURED.
