A Mother's Day Holiday Spins Toward Bankruptcy -- But Then There's Tyson

Days before Mother’s Day, Lori Spiesschaert sits in her home, getting ready to pick up her son, Tyson, from daycare.

She’s spent most of the day talking with reporters and her lawyer trying to make sense of a decision by the Oregon State Supreme Court that could force her into bankruptcy.

The decision: Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital, which admitted that one of its doctor's mistakes had nearly killed her infant son, cannot be ordered to pay more than $3 million to account for the mistake.

That sounds like a lot of money until the bills to keep Tyson alive are considered: More than $5 million so far, plus a lifetime of extensive medical care.

Everything beyond the $3 million is the responsibility of Lori and her family. State law, the court ruled.

“Where is the justice? the mother asks. “We didn’t do anything wrong.”

No one argues that.

After OHSU admitted it was their doctor who made a near-fatal mistake, hospital attorneys suggested to a jury that the family was entitled to “about $8 million.”

The jury awarded $12 million.

The hospital appealed based on a law that caps damages against the state of Oregon at $3 million; the state-involved hospital could not be made to pay the $12 million, the hospital argued. And won.

OHSU says they "deeply regret the surgical error that occurred and what this has meant for the" family. "OHSU fully disclosed the surgical error to the family at the time it occurred and did not charge the family for any cots, waiving all OHSU bills."

This makes Lori angry, pointing out "they want credit for writing off the bulls from their own botched surgeries."

And she points out, even with what they got from OHSU, it doesn't compare to all the bills they have accumulated.

The math: Several million-plus in debt.

***

The problems started when Tyson was six months old.

His parents took him in for a check up. Lori mentioned something about constipation.

“It never occurred to us that it was a tumor,” she says. “Or what would come next.”

What was next was that Tyson would end up at OHSU fighting for his life.

In the process of removing the tumor from Tyson, the surgeons cut vital blood cells and he lay on the table and bled.

For 45 minutes.

And no one noticed.

It caused his liver to fail.“It was a catastrophic mistake and as they tried to put my son back together they kept making things worse.”

There were three surgeries at OHSU.

“He just kept getting worse,” Lori says.

Tyson ended up at Stanford where they have pediatric transplant specialists who were able to take a piece of Lori’s liver and put it in her son.

There would be four more surgeries at Stanford.

It was rough going for mother and son but they made it through.

At great cost.

They left with a medical bill from Stanford for $5 million; $4.5 million for Tyson’s care, $500,000 for Lori’s care.

***

Lori works as a writer of medical reports.

Ironically, her employer often does business with OHSU - “it leaves me feeling like I am sleeping with the devil,” she says.

It’s a good job but not one that will leave her with millions in the bank to pay for Tyson’s medical care.

And the money they received from OHSU didn’t come close to giving them enough to pay off Stanford.

What about insurance?

Tyson was double covered through the insurance of both Lori and her husband.

“But once the hospital admitted to having made a mistake, the insurance companies said it was no longer their responsibility to pay and demanded their money back,” she says.

“So, three million may seem like a lot but it was gone very quickly.”

***

So, while they were able to give Stanford $1 million, they still owe the hospital another $4 million.

And this is just the beginning.

“This is not about us getting rich,” she says. “This is us struggling to pay medical bills that they caused. This is us facing what will be a lifetime of medical bills for Tyson.”

Every day Lori has to contend with the possibility that Tyson’s body could reject her liver.

“What if that happens,” she asks. “He is healthy now and every day we are thankful for that.”

But she lives in fear of what could happen. A cold is a threat. Something like measles could be deadly.

“Imagine being a mom and knowing every day your son is at risk and no matter what you do to protect him, it may not be enough,” Lori says. “In reality, we could've gone through all of this and lost him anyway.”

Lori says there were at least a dozen times during their three months at Stanford when doctors and nurses told her they didn't think that Tyson would make it through the night.

“I don't think I could've survived that,” she says. “I just want to keep him healthy for as long as I can and when he gets sick, I want to be able to pay for his medical care.”

***

“He's a great kid with an amazing personality and I want to protect that innocence and carefree nature for as long as I can.”

Lori says she works hard to shield him from some of the more daunting obstacles facing the family - such as the fact that even with the money from OHSU they are millions in debt with a lifetime of medical bills still ahead.

“We will probably have to declare bankruptcy,” says Lori. “Right now I just want him to be a little boy and enjoy life as much as possible.

“He's so incredibly worth every bit of stress and worry we've been through over the last 7 years.”

Lori says at some point, when Tyson is older, she knows he will have lots of questions, will have lots of information to read and digest.

“I’ll answer his questions as honestly as I can,” she says.

In the meantime, she says: “Yes, life kind of sucks right now, but at least he's still here with us. Nothing else really matters, in the grand scheme of things.”

***

She says she hasn't explained the money and bankruptcy issues to him though he could tell she was upset Thursday when she got the news about the court decision.

“He saw the television interview and heard me on the radio,” she says.

“His reaction was so cute. He goes, ‘Hey, that's my name! Are they talking about me?”

Then: “‘Can I go watch Netflix?’

“It totally brightened my day.”