<font color="#FF0000">COURTS:</font> Civil suit begins in death of teen

15-year-old Nathan Hannon died in 1999 after seeking care at Shands Live Oak

By Carnell Hawthorne Jr., Reporter

It's been more than a decade since 15-year-old Nathan Scott Hannon of Live Oak passed away, but for his parents, Rick and Yvette Hannon, memories of their son are still very much alive.

Monday, opening arguments began in the Hannons' civil suit against Shands Teaching Hospital, Shands at Live Oak and Shands Healthcare.

"This case is about Nathan developing an ordinary problem with his shunt -- a problem that was easily treatable," said James W. Gustafson Jr., attorney for the family, in his opening argument.

On October 28, 1999, Nathan first complained to his father of a headache and vomiting. His symptoms lasted into the next day.

Gustafson said, the next morning Nathan was taken to Shands Clinic, and later advised to go to Shands at Live Oak for lab work and a CT scan. He would be declared brain dead that same day.



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When Nathan Hannon was two years old, his parents noticed a change in their son. He literally could not lay his head down to rest, a point noted by both parties in the case, at one point or another, Monday.

After an early misdiagnosis by doctors, the Hannons learned that Nathan had hydrocephalus, a condition in which fluid builds up in the cavities of the brain causing cranial pressure that often leads to other neurological disorders. Surgeons inserted a shunt in his brain to drain the excess fluid from his head down past his chest where it could be reabsorbed. He maintained an active and generally normal lifestyle after the operation, with some incidents over the years -- including a shunt replacement at age five, Gustafson said.

John Jopling, attorney for the defense, noted in his opening statement that Nathan had undergone an additional surgery in 1993, at age 9, in which the shunt was replaced yet again after a fracture was discovered in the device.



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"Mama, make me comfortable," were Nathan's words to his mother as she rode beside him in the back of the family van on I-75 headed to Gainesville, Gustafson told jurors Monday. "That's when Yvette looked down, and saw that Nathan's lips had turned blue."

A call was placed to 9-1-1, and Rick Hannon pulled off to the side of the road.

Yvette began performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her son, waiting for rescue to arrive, Gustafson said.

Once Nathan was transferred into an ambulance, the Hannons - Rick, youngest son Ricky and Yvette - traveled the rest of the way to Gainesville to be at Nathan's side.

A vigil began at his bedside.

According to Gustafson, "The doctor asked, has anyone told the parents that he's brain dead?" with Yvette standing there in the room. "That's how the family found out. Nathan Hannon suffered brain death on Oct. 29 in the back seat of the family car in his mother's arms."

Nathan showed the telltale signs of emergent distress on that final day, Gustafson argued. The doctors and physicians in Live Oak weren't in the dark about his shunt, Gustafson said.

"If a doctor examines a patient and sees signs of a shunt malfunction, it is that doctor's responsibility to contact a neurosurgeon immediately," Gustafson said. "A shunt malfunction is an emergency. You don't delay transfer of a patient for a CT scan, you get the patient to a neurosurgeon. Nathan's vital signs were never even checked. There was reckless disregard -- they knew or should have known that Nathan's condition was emergent, not just urgent."

Still, Gustafson argued, "no one took responsibility for the patient."

Nathan was considered an outpatient of Shands Clinic, even though Shands as an entity "had no policy for when a physicians assistant was the one placing the calls to a neurosurgeon -- neither the clinic physician nor the hospital doctor at Shands (Live Oak) took the responsibility for the patient," according to Gustafson.

"It was an unwritten rule between the clinic and the hospital -- a negligent system," Gustafson suggested.

"No healthcare provider made a phone call to a neurosurgeon. No one was managing Nathan's care -- he was falling through the cracks. It was Yvette Hannon who finally made that call," Gustafson said. "They're suing Shands for three reasons: It's employee failed to manage the care of the patient; there was a poorly planned system set up where no one is responsible; and Shands takes no responsibility whatsoever for Nathan's death."

Christian Searcy, Gustafson's co-counsel approached the jury.

"Their precious 15-year-old son who they loved more than life died on Friday afternoon on the side of the road."

He mentioned the psychological effects the Hannons have experienced as a result of the tragedy, which included depression, post-traumatic stress, and more.

Both Hannons steadily wiped tears from their eyes during the course of the opening.

"Yvette will never forget looking down and seeing that her son's lips were blue. And, how she pressed her mouth to his, trying to breath life back into her son," said Searcy, returning to his seat.



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"In our view the story starts a bit earlier than the plaintiffs have stated," defense attorney Jopling told jurors. He mentioned the various shunt replacement surgeries Nathan had endured during the course of his life, including the additional fracture and replacement when Nathan was nine.

"Between 1994 to 1999, he was free of symptoms," Jopling said. "Then came the trip to Colorado."

Nathan Hannon had traveled with his Boy Scout troop to camp at the end of July 1999, returning shortly before school started in early August, Jopling said.

While on the trip, Nathan began experiencing symptoms similar to those he had experienced in the previous instances involving possible shunt malfunctions: "headaches, vomiting nausea," Jopling explained.

Nathan was taken to an area hospital and examined by a physician, and later a neurospecialist, who advised: "He is to be seen in his clinic when he returns home," Jopling explained, showing medical discharge sheets from Parkview Medical Center in Colorado.

Jopling argued that Nathan never had a follow-up with a neurosurgeon when he returned to Florida.

Jopling said, he intended later in the trial to call as a witness Bob Pinello, a former co-worker of Yvette Hannon's, who would testify that "Yvette told him that Nathan would need to be seen by a neurosurgeon once back in Florida."



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Jopling said that "around 5 p.m. on Thursday Oct. 28, 1999, that everything was going fine. Nathan attended a JV football game. After the game he threw up (vomited), and complained of a headache."

Jopling continued.

"Nathan woke up earlier than usual the next morning. He sat on the kitchen floor, and complained to his father of a headache."

Shortly after, Nathan was taken to Shands Clinic.

There at the clinic Yvette and Nathan ran into Pinello, Jopling said.

"He asked Yvette, 'What did the doctor tell you when he had the incident in Colorado? He doesn't need to be here in this clinic, he needs to see a neurosurgeon,'" Jopling said, reiterating his intention to call on Pinello as a witness.

Jopling said the case hinges on the question, "Why didn't the doctors and physicians tell the Hannons that Nathan was at risk of death? Answer simply put. They didn't know that. Nothing from what they could tell said that he was in mortal danger," Jopling argued.

"They did the one thing in Live Oak they could do--perform a CT Scan to see if there was anything irregular."

Jopling says a Dr. Spendel at Shands of Live Oak, also a witness in the case "will tell you that he had responsibility, but not opportunity to carry through the plan."

Jopling said Rick Hannon left the hospital with Nathan before Nathan could be examined there and if necessary, admitted into the ER.

"If anybody, including Nathan's parents, or the doctors had that crystal ball to see what was to come, certainly things may have happened differently," Jopling said. "All these folks knew each other. To the doctors and physicians, this was Yvette's boy, they were doing everything in their power to treat Nathan," Jopling said.

Yvette Hannon was employed at Shands Live Oak at the time.

Dr. Spendel was under the understanding that Yvette had spoken with the neurosurgeon in Gainesville, despite twice suggesting to admit Nathan into the ER in Live Oak, Jopling said. "Spendel wasn't alarmed because nothing from what he could tell was emergent looking at Nathan's symptoms -- it wasn't reasonably foreseeable. Negligence is failure to use reasonable care. They were doing everything in their power for Nathan."

Testimony in the case was underway at press time. See Friday's Democrat for more, or follow the trial online at suwanneedemocrat.com.

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