WHAT A HEEL!: Mercy! Med-Mal Meltdown
In 2004, Wanda Davis-Johnson sued Mercy Hospital for $3 million, alleging she became completely paralyzed because of an improper delay in diagnosis and treatment of a spinal abscess. In February Davis-Johnson testified in a sworn deposition that she was unable to walk, stand or get herself in and out of bed. In April the private investigator hired by the hospital’s defense lawyer shot a video of Davis-Johnson walking down the street with the aid of a cane, on two occasions.
When defense attorney Mark Leibowitz deposed Davis-Johnson a second time in September, she repeated her earlier claims. He knew he had her dead to rights when her own sister-in-law, Ethel Perry, called him to confirm that Davis-Johnson was faking.
Daily Business Review reports that when the tape was shown at trial in March, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Gisela Cardonne Ely declared, "This is the worst case of misrepresentation, of outright fraud, that I have ever had in 22 years. I'm telling you, Mrs. Davis, I'm looking at you in the eyes. I am dismissing your case. I have seen enough. ... I'm making a specific finding that there was a scheme to defraud the court."
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