Man Wins $5M Over Bee Stings

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Man Wins $5M Over Bee Stings

{CyberbeeNet comments: This title is very misleading! While the same thing probably could happen with a true bee sting, the journalist should know that "bees" and "wasps" are very different animals. Yellow jackets are wasps, NOT bees! This gives the honey bees (to the general public, bees = honey bees, which is also not true) some bad publicity. Well, I guess if they had the right title, then this article would not be here :) }

SEATTLE (AP) - A man left severely brain damaged by a yellow-jacket sting has won a $5 million malpractice verdict against a doctor who told him he was not allergic to bee stings.

Daniel Topham and his wife, Cynthia, contended Dr. Gail Shapiro, an allergist, negligently treated Topham for a sting allergy in 1996. A King County Superior Court jury announced the award to the couple on Tuesday.

Topham, 30, was stung by yellow jackets twice within a week in 1992, and the second sting triggered a near-fatal reaction that prompted his doctor to prescribe him a self-injection device containing epinephrine, a sting-allergy-fighting medication.

Four years later, Shapiro gave Topham a skin test considered the most reliable way to determine whether a patient has a venom allergy. The skin test came back negative.

Shapiro testified she opted not to use venom immunotherapy to desensitize Topham to future stings.

Stung in July 1997, Topham went into cardiac arrest, spent two weeks in a coma and suffered brain damage.

The Tophams' lawyers argued that Shapiro was negligent because she should have tried to confirm the test results via a blood test. The jurors agreed.

``I believe this verdict is justice for Dan,'' Mrs. Topham said. ``I'm hopeful that in the future, other patients will receive much better care than the care my husband received.''

Shapiro's lawyer, Doug Hofmann, said his client would not appeal.

``We think the doctor did the right thing, but this was a very emotionally charged case - the saddest case I've ever seen,'' Hofmann said.

Earlier Stories

Jury Awards $5M to Man in Bee Stings (June 30)

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