Hot Coffee, Is Justice Being Served?

You may have heard that Suzanne is going to be featured in a film about “Tort Reform” which focuses on the public’s perception of frivolous lawsuits, following the McDonald’s coffee case. After learning the facts and seeing the photos, rather than just believing what the news media reported, your perception will be changed, as ours was. Stella Liebeck, a passenger in a parked car, spilled coffee in her lap when removing the lid to add cream. During the case, Liebeck's attorneys discovered that McDonald's REQUIRED franchises to serve coffee at 180–190 °F (82–88 °C). At that temperature, the coffee causes a third-degree burn in two seconds. Her case became a punchline, and was even the subject of an episode of Seinfeld. Have a look at the blog posting, featuring Suzanne, and check out “Hot Coffee, Is Justice Being Served?”

Handy Work

We wanted to post some pictures from Suzanne's hand surgery experience. To the left is a picture of Suzanne with Dr. Jesse Goldstein, right before going into surgery, Sunday, January 17th. Interestingly enough, Dr. Goldstein was doing his rotation at Washington Hospital Center while Suzanne was an inpatient, and he participated in several of her original leg surgeries. We were surprised to see him at the hand center when we went up to Baltimore to see Dr. Higgins.

As it turns out, he is currently doing a rotation at the Curtis National Hand Center as part of his plastic surgery training and was able to participate in Suzanne's hand surgery as well. How is that for continuity of care? The photo to the right was taken around 6:30AM as Dr. James Higgins was removing Suzanne's temporary cast, in preparation for her return home. Sue was happy to get out of the hospital and out from under the hot air blanket and into her own bed.

To the left, there is a photo of Suzanne, with Gabby, upon her return home. Notice the large bandage surrounding her right arm. It remained immobilized for a week, until her follow-up visit. And finally, we have a picture of Suzanne with Dr. Higgins and Dr. Goldstein, one week after surgery. The doctors were pleased with how her hand looked. They removed the plaster cast and replaced with with a less cumbersome plastic splint. She'll go back in two more weeks to have the pins removed from her thumb.

Suzanne is so grateful to the doctors and nurses who participated in her surgery, early on a Sunday morning. Sue sends a big thanks to everyone at Union Memorial Hospital, especially Dr. Higgins.