Temple University Health Systems has been ordered to pay $11 million to a woman paralyzed by a brain tumor after seeking treatment at Temple facilities three days in a row.

 

Yanira Montanez was suffering from severe headaches, nausea and numbness in her limbs in March 2004, when she went first to Episcopal and then to Northeastern Hospital for help. Her symptoms were getting worse each time, but doctors never performed a CAT scan that would have found she had a brain tumor:
 

"The question is why didn't they do a CAT scan, and I believe there are economic considerations."
 

Attorney Kenneth Rothweiler says his client had Medicaid which reimbursed a tiny fraction of the cost of a cat scan. Temple attorney Paul Wright calls the charge outrageous:
 

"There's no basis for any allegation of any discrimination based on ethnicity or insurance."

The jury did not indicate if they believed the charge but did find the hospitals and doctors negligent.