| Full Text: |
| (Copyri= ght 2000 by the Sun-Sentinel) |
Tampa Genera= l Hospital and the University of South Florida each has agreed to pay mor= e than $1 million to settle a class-action lawsuit contending that experi= mental procedures were performed on poor pregnant women.
The $3.8 m= illion settlement, announced Friday, could affect 3,000 women.
The = 1990 medical research suit alleged thousands of pregnant women weren't to= ld of the risks, benefits and alternatives of various experiments conduct= ed between 1986 and 1990.
USF doctors working at Tampa General gave= about 3,000 women with high-risk pregnancies drugs that the doctors thou= ght would enhance the lung development of their fetuses.
The women = then were given regular amniocentesis to monitor the effectiveness of the= drugs.
Between 1 percent and 2 percent of women miscarry immediate= ly after undergoing an amniocentesis.
That is when a needle is inse= rted into the uterus to extract amniotic fluid for analysis.
In the= suit, none of the women claimed they were harmed by the experiment or th= at it was ineffective in improving the outcomes of their pregnancies.
=But they said they were never told the drugs were experimental or that= they could choose not to take them.
There was no admission of wron= gdoing in the lawsuit's settlement.
The settlement calls for the ho= spital and the university each to pay $1.1 million and a state insurance = plan to pay $1.6 million over a four-year period to about 3,000 people wh= o could collect from the class action suit.
U.S. District Judge Hen= ry Lee Adams Jr. must still sign the settlement, said Stephen Hanlon, att= orney for the plaintiffs.
| Sub Title: | [Broward Metro Edit= ion] |
|---|---|
| Start Page: | 10B |
| Dateline: | TAMPA |