$24.7 Million Federal Verdict After Tripler Failed to Treat Post-Delivery Sepsis

On the night of July 22, 2013, Marites Campano arrived at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu to deliver her third child. The baby was born in the early morning hours of July 23. Within two hours of delivery, Campano spiked a fever. Her skin turned clammy, her blood pressure fell, and her heart rate climbed. Those are the textbook signs of a serious bacterial infection, and the standard response is IV antibiotics, quickly. None were ordered.

Campano went roughly 48 hours without antibiotic treatment as a Group A streptococcus infection spread into full septic shock. By the time physicians intervened, the damage to her kidneys was irreversible. She lost both of them, spent time on a ventilator in the intensive care unit, and eventually received a kidney transplant. A healthy transplanted kidney lasts about ten years on average, with a seven-year wait between transplants. That arithmetic meant decades of repeat surgeries, dialysis cycles, immunosuppressant medication, and an estimated 15 days of hospitalization every year for the rest of her life.

Her husband is a Navy service member, and the family was stationed in Hawaii. The family filed a Federal Tort Claims Act lawsuit against the government in October 2015. Before trial, the government admitted liability. The December 2017 bench trial before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang focused solely on the measure of damages.

L. Richard Fried Jr. of Cronin, Fried, Sekiya, Kekina and Fairbanks represented the family. He presented evidence on the full projected cost of Marites Campano's future care: kidney replacements, dialysis between transplants, repeated hospitalizations, home care, and psychiatric treatment for mental anguish. Fried told reporters that the 3 a.m. fever was "almost presumptively a serious infection that needed treatment" and that administering antibiotics at that moment carried virtually no risk to the patient.

On March 7, 2018, Judge Chang issued a $24.7 million verdict. Marites Campano received $22.4 million, covering future medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Her husband received $950,000. Each of the couple's three children received $450,000. Fried described it as the largest verdict ever entered against Tripler Army Medical Center and possibly the largest medical malpractice verdict in Hawaii history. No appeal or reduction has been reported.