Baby Damaged By Drugs In Foster Home

Wednesday, December 20, 2000

California: Baby damaged by drugs in foster home

$4 million settlement proposed for child with brain damage

LOS ANGELES - The county should pay $4 million to care for a child who was left severely brain-damaged because her foster mother fed her Prozac, Xanax and other drugs for years, a panel recommended.

The lawsuit settlement, if approved by the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 9, would be among the largest the county has ever paid to a single plaintiff, County Counsel Lloyd W. Pellman said. It was recommended Monday by the county claims board.

The money would provide overall care for the 4-year-old girl, who is in a round-the-clock care facility, said attorney Richard Voorhies, who filed the negligence lawsuit in Superior Court on the girl's behalf.

"What happened to this child was absolutely horrendous," Voorhies said.

- The Associated Press

In a memo to supervisors, county lawyers said the county failed to follow its own guidelines for supervising the girl, identified in legal papers as Baby S.

The girl, then 6 months old, was placed with Lynette Harms of Carpinteria in 1996. According to the lawsuit, Harms, who had adopted Baby S's older sister, was a drug addict and over several years gave the child Phenobarbital, the sedative Xanax, the antidepressant Prozac, the sleeping drug chloral hydrate and other drugs.

Some drugs were prescribed by a local pediatrician but required court approval was never sought, according to the lawsuit.

In 1999, the comatose girl was taken to Santa Barbara Hospital, where she was found to have brain and liver damage.

The lawsuit, alleging negligence, said some of the five social workers on the case failed to make legally required visits to the home. None were made between April and October 1998, according to a claims board document.

Harms was convicted of shoplifting in Santa Maria in 1998 and her foster license was revoked the next year, the lawsuit said.

Harms, the pediatrician and pharmacies previously agreed to settle their parts of the lawsuit for $3.45 million.

posted by Linda for FightCPS.Com at 2:47 PM