Two years after a Florida high school girl's tragic death, her parents still view their daughter's fatal surgery as a medical mistake. Hoping to use the story of their daughter to educate others, her mother and father have met an unsatisfactory settlement and no liability attributed to the doctors involved.

In March of 2008, the Boca Raton parents' 18-year-old daughter underwent plastic surgery for an inverted nipple and asymmetrical breasts. During the administration of the anesthetic their daughter experienced malignant hyperthermia, a rare genetic condition triggered by anesthetic drugs, resulting in a temperature spike, muscle contractions and her death.

Both of her parents wanted to transform the painful tragedy into a chance to educate the public on malignant hyperthermia, attain justice against the doctors involved and campaign for tighter regulations on office surgery centers. However, along their journey the parents felt they met indifference by the organizations they felt were suppose to care. 

Malpractice caps enacted by the Florida state legislature to protect doctors from growing insurance rates made the girl's mother feel that she had to accept a settlement from the doctors' insurance company. Before either of the girl's parents knew an investigation had started, the Florida Board of Medicine cleared her daughter's doctors, which added to her mother's feeling of being her daughter's lone advocate. She explains, "My daughter's dead and everyone's protected or has connections to the legal system that go all the way to the state."

Attorneys who represent the doctors say they are sympathetic but do not view the death as medical malpractice. They view it as a tragic accident. The anesthesiologist's attorney claims proper protocols were followed during the emergency. The attorney explains that the anesthesiologist's insurer addressed the growing publicity and sympathy of the case and chose to make a business decision by settling.

Source: The Miami Herald, "Breast-Surgery Death Drives Parents," Jane Musgrave, 9/21/10