Patti Frustaci, the woman who gave birth to the nation's first septuplets in 1985, and her husband, Sam, agreed Tuesday to a settlement of up to $6.2 million in their suit against the fertility clinic that treated her.
The Tyler Medical Clinic will pay $450,000 of the settlement immediately and will make monthly payments to the three surviving Frustaci children for the rest of their lives. The Frustacis are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.As the terms of the settlement were announced in court, tears rolled down Patti Frustaci's face.
Outside the courtroom, Mrs. Frustaci's attorney, Browne Greene, announced that she is pregnant again with twins, due Dec. 30.
Greene said the twins, both healthy, were conceived after Mrs. Frustaci was treated with Pergonal, the same self-injected fertility drug she took in the fall of 1984 when she conceived the septuplets.
"I feel such a relief," Mrs. Frustaci said after terms of the settlement were revealed. "It's taken up a great deal of time, but the goal all along was to take care of the children."
The settlement will help pay for the constant medical attention and other care the three surviving Frustaci children require, but their mother was hesitant to say whether it would satisfy all of the family's needs. "I don't know.
Life is a compromise," she said.
Mrs. Frustaci, facing a hall packed with reporters and photographers, also said she was "in awe" that five years after she gained national attention with the record birth, people were still so interested in her story.
The Frustacis, who rejected the option of aborting some or all of the fetuses, sued the clinic and an infertility specialist who treated Mrs. Frustaci in 1984, Dr. Jaroslav Marik, for malpractice and wrongful death.
Under the settlement, Superior Court Judge David Rothman dismissed the complaint against Marik, who is a part-owner in the clinic. Marik had denied the malpractice allegations and strenuously objected to any settlement discussions, which went on without his consent.
Settlement negotiations began Thursday and continued through Tuesday, a day after jury selection for a trial in the case was to begin.
The discussions were finalized after Marik was dropped from the suit. Rothman said the majority of the clinic's directors approved the settlement over Marik's objections, as was registered in the court record by his attorney, Craig Dummit.
The settlement, the bulk of which will be paid by the clinic's insurance company, calls for an immediate lump sum payment of $450,000, with the monthly payments to the children beginning in August.
Until the children turn 18 in 2003, Stephen Earl, the most severely impaired, will receive $1,000 a month; Richard Charles, $600 a month; and Patricia Ann, $400 a month.
From age 18 until at least age 38, Stephen will receive $3,000 a month, Richard; $2,000 a month; and Patricia, $1,000 a month. If any of the three dies before age 38, the payments will go to their heirs.
The Frustacis, who live in Riverside, made headlines on May 21, 1985, when Mrs. Frustaci became the first American woman to deliver septuplets - four boys and three girls - born by Caesarean section at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange.
But the occasion quickly took a tragic turn. One daughter, Christina, was stillborn. A son, David, died three days after birth, and James and Bonnie died at 16 and 19 days.
In their October 1985 suit, the couple accused Marik of not properly advising and monitoring Patti Frustaci or ordering tests that could have indicated possible multiple births.
Marik contended that Mrs. Frustaci injected herself with larger dosages of the drug than he prescribed, and that he did recommend diagnostic tests, but that she refused them.