Hospital Ordered To Pay Family

Children’s Hospital and Medical Center has been ordered to pay $1 million to the family of a 5-day-old boy who died after being given a medicine at 150 times the prescribed dose.

A King County Superior Court jury returned the medical-malpractice judgment earlier this week in the case of Max Williams.

The child was born nine weeks premature on Jan. 17, 1993, in Everett General Hospital. He was transferred the same day to Children’s in Seattle.

At Children’s, Max was diagnosed with neonatal Grave’s syndrome, a thyroid disorder that can affect metabolism and increase the risk for developmental disabilities.

A 0.02 milliliter dose of concentrated potassium iodide was prescribed, but the infant was given a dosage estimated at 150 times that amount, said attorney Todd Whitney Gardner, who represented the child’s parents, Chris and Roseann Williams. Max died Jan. 22, 1993.