Brenda Goode
Killeen, Texas
Brenda Goode lives in Killeen, Texas with her daughter and two granddaughters. She works as a housekeeper at a local clinic.
Her son Brian died at the age of 27 because of a preventable medical error. Sadly, the Goode family has not been able to hold those responsible for Brian’s death accountable because Proposition 12 has limited their access to our courts.
Brian was born with a cyst on his brain but it wasn’t found until he was 10 years old and a shunt was surgically implanted to drain fluid from his brain. In 2001, when Brian was in his early twenties, the shunt was replaced because he had two seizures.
Brian began to have more frequent seizures and severe headaches in February 2005. Brian’s doctor ignored signs that indicated that the shunt was malfunctioning and instead prescribed Brian seizure medication.
Brian soon lost 60 pounds and couldn’t walk without falling. Brenda and Brian made frequent trips to the emergency room over the next several months. Because of the time she had to spend caring for her son, Brenda feared that she might lose her job.
One night, Brian had a seizure which caused him to stop breathing and foam at the mouth. Brenda revived him with CPR and called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. At first, the doctors refused to admit him to the hospital, but Brenda insisted because she knew the shunt was not working.
Three days later, a neurologist examined Brian and determined that the shunt was malfunctioning and that fluid had collected on Brian’s brain. He scheduled a shunt revision for Brian to correct the problem.
At 11 p.m. that night, Brenda had a feeling that she needed to check on Brian. Whe she entered his hospital room, it was dark and silent. Brian was unresponsive and not breathing. They called a code blue and tried to revive him, but it was too late.
That night, Brian died needlessly.
Afterwards, the neurosurgeon spoke with Brenda at length and admitted that if they had looked back earlier at previous CAT scans, they would have caught the significant increase in the fluid on his brain caused by the malfunctioning shunt.
Due to the cap on non-economic damages created by Proposition 12, Brenda is not able to hold those who caused her son’s death accountable.
