$172 Million Bronx Verdict After EMTs Arrived Without Oxygen or Defibrillator and Told Family to Wait

On February 21, 1998, a 12-year-old girl in the Bronx went into anaphylactic shock during a routine home infusion of a corticosteroid prescribed for a chronic eye condition. Her mother called 911. A Basic Life Support ambulance arrived, but the crew had not brought oxygen, epinephrine, or a defibrillator. Faced with a child in cardiac arrest, the EMTs told the family to wait for an Advanced Life Support unit. That unit arrived roughly 20 minutes later. By then, prolonged oxygen deprivation had caused severe, irreversible brain damage.

The victim, Tiffany Applewhite, survived but was left permanently unable to speak, confined to a wheelchair, dependent on a feeding tube, and, in the words of her attorney Thomas Moore, 'literally trapped in her own body.' She has required around-the-clock care ever since.

The road to trial was long. The City of New York initially persuaded a trial court to dismiss the suit, arguing it owed no 'special duty' to Applewhite. The Appellate Division, First Department reversed that ruling, finding the duty question belonged to a jury. New York's Court of Appeals affirmed that decision in June 2013, clearing the way for trial.

At trial before Justice Alison Tuitt in Bronx Supreme Court (Index No. 22234/98), Moore presented evidence that the City had imposed 30-day unpaid suspensions on the responding EMTs for protocol violations. That internal discipline proved damaging to the defense. The City's lawyers, according to Moore, had offered the family nothing before trial and told them they could not win.

After a three-week trial, the jury returned a verdict of $172 million: $25 million for past pain and suffering, $40 million for future pain and suffering, and more than $100 million for future medical care. It stood as one of the largest verdicts in New York State history. The City's Law Department said the verdict was 'not consistent with the law' and announced it intended to appeal.