Lauderhill may offer parents $475,000

Couple were told their son would ‘poop out’ battery

LAUDERHILL — A couple who were told their baby didn’t need a doctor and would “poop … out” a remote control battery he swallowed are poised to get a $475,000 settlement from the city after the battery corroded and damaged his throat.

The couple, Yandy Joseph and Matthew Asea, took the advice of Lauderhill emergency responders, they said in their lawsuit, and they didn’t immediately take their young son to a hospital. When his saliva interacted with the battery lodged in his esophagus, he suffered severe medical complications and was hospitalized for three months, the lawsuit says.

The $475,000 payout would be one of the largest personal injury settlements in city history, if it’s approved by city commissioners today, Assistant City Attorney Angel Petti Rosenberg, with the Hall & Rosenberg law firm, said. The city’s insurance carrier would pay it. According to the lawsuit: Joseph called 911 on March 30, 2016, because her son, described as a “baby” in the lawsuit, had swallowed the button battery from a remote control for a fan. When fire-rescue

paramedics arrived about 10 minutes later, she showed them the battery from another device so they’d see what he had swallowed.

One of the emergency medical technicians picked up the boy, and said, “He looks good and will probably poop it out,” his mother recounted. She said the technician told her that “if we took him to the hospital, that’s what they’ll tell you.” They gave no other advice and then left.

Joseph inspected her baby’s next two bowel movements, but there was no sign of the battery. The next morning, he threw up, and she called poison control. They instructed her to take him to the hospital immediately.

At Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, X-rays confirmed he had a button battery in his throat. By the time it was removed, tissue around the battery had died, and he required multiple surgeries and procedures over his three months in the hospital. He sustained permanent injuries because of the battery’s interaction with his saliva.

Joseph’s attorney said the family declined comment.

The settlement is higher than local governments typically pay out in lawsuits. Florida sovereign immunity laws say cities don’t have to pay more than $200,000 per person, or $300,000 per incident. Victims seeking more than that have to get approval from the state Legislature through a claims bill.

But legal advisers for the city of Lauderhill recommend the family not be forced to do that. Claims bills can take years to get approved.

Assistant city attorney Rosenberg said the boy’s medical bills topped $1.6 million, and even when ultimately reduced by medical providers, stand at $267,000. They must be paid from the settlement proceeds, she said.

“Under the circumstances, and to avoid the parents having to suffer more over a lengthy trial and claims bill process,” she said in an email, “the city’s litigation counsel [Louis Reinstein] reached a fair settlement with the family.”

City spokeswoman Leslie Johnson said the employees were retrained.

“A review process occurred and personnel including the staff involved were trained on appropriate protocols,” she said in an email.