Boy, 11, dies after a soccer injury. His parents blamed the clinic and school board.
After the death of their 11-year-old son due to brain injuries suffered while playing soccer, two parents will receive $500,000 from Hialeah medical clinic and the Dade school system. The malpractice settlement was reach Wednesday.
The two parents, Humberto and Marta Barreto, filed suit after the unusual death of their son six days after a soccer injury. The injury had gone unnoticed by his coach and went undiagnosed by doctors at the Association Cubana Clinic of Hialeah.
Mr. and Mrs. Barreto were represented by attorney Luis Stabinski. After three days of a civil trial, the settlement was decided before Dade Circuit Judge Lenore Nesbitt. The settlement will be divided among the defendants: Hialeah clinic and the doctors will pay $325,000 and the Dade County School Board will pay $175,000.
Barreto, Jr. was a goalie at Palm Springs Junior High School. He was hit in the face by a soccer ball, but he wasn't taken to the hospital until three days later when he began experiencing headaches and vomiting. He went brainded the same day he was admitted. It was acute obstructive hydrocephalus, or swelling of the brain, which medical evidence proved to have been caused by Barreto, Jr. hitting his head against the goal post after he was hit in the face by the soccer ball.
The lawsuit against the school board charged negligence for failing to prevent and detect the injury, and for failing to tell the parents about the injury. The lawsuit against the clinic charged malpractice for not diagnosing Barreto, Jr.'s brain injury.