A father and the teenage girl he has raised since birth will collect more than $6.6 million from the hospital where she and another infant were swapped almost 14 years ago.
Robert and Kimberly Mays will get even more money, depending on how long they live, according to the settlement approved Monday during a hearing at U.S. District Court in Tampa.The other family in the case, Ernest and Regina Twigg, settled with the hospital in 1991 for a guaranteed $3.5 million. Their attorney at the time said the Twiggs could collect as much as $7 million if they live long lives.
The money for the Mayses, like that of the Twiggs, is coming from the Florida Patient's Compensation Fund, an insurance pool formed by Hardee Memorial Hospital, where the swap took place, and other Florida hospitals to cover each other's catastrophic losses.
The bulk of the payments, which will be made to the Mayses over a span of several years, will come from annuities purchased from two insurance companies.
It is the latest chapter in a story that first came to light four years ago and later was told in a TV miniseries. It began in late 1978 when Mrs. Twigg and Barbara Mays gave birth to baby girls at the hospital in rural Hardee County. By the time they left the hospital, the two infants had been switched.
The swap was discovered a decade later when the child raised by the Twiggs died of a heart defect. The Twiggs and Mays, who reared Kimberly since his first wife's death, later sued the hospital.
The hospital in July filed for protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tampa. Officials said at the time the action was not related to the lawsuits.
Mays and his attorney could not be reached Monday for comment on the settlement. A lawyer for Hardee Memorial Hospital, where Kimberly and the other girl were swapped, did not return a phone call. The hospital has not admitted guilt in the swap.
A bankruptcy lawyer for the hospital said Kimberly and Mays testified before Judge Charles Wilson about the proposed settlement. The tall and slender Kimberly answered questions quietly, said Tampa lawyer Raymond Farfante, who was present at the hearing.
He said she was asked if she understood that there was a settlement and that she was giving up certain rights regarding a lawsuit.
Kimberly seemed much like any other teenage girl who might be thrust into the public view - shy but dignified, Farfante said. The lawyers treated her gently for the few minutes she was on the stand.
"No one wanted to ask her any questions that would frighten her," Farfante said.
When it was over, Kimberly and the man who reared her received court approval for their settlement.
According to the terms outlined in the 30-page document, Kim-berly, through her court-appointed guardian and Mays, will get slightly more than $1 million immediately. After she turns 18, she will start receiving the first of more than $4.2 million in additional payments.
The settlement brings Hardee Memorial another step closer to settling its bankruptcy reorganization, said attorney Farfante.
He said officials are close to resolving a dispute with the hospital's former managers. Before the end of the year, he said, they hope to sign a contract with another management company and reopen the hospital, which has been closed since July.
Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.