A Fort Lauderdale doctor, a dead mother and an unpaid $70,000 malpractice suit judgment
Fort Lauderdale doctor Keith Robinson didn’t get his license suspended because a 2014 patient died shortly after giving birth. Robinson didn’t get his license suspended for settling the ensuing wrongful death malpractice suit.
But not paying the $70,000 to the estate of the deceased Nadege Dumont, after a Feb. 5 Broward County court order from Judge Patti Englander Henning enforcing the judgment and a May 11 notification from the Department of Health, got Robinson hit with an emergency suspension order on July 22.
The ESO says within 30 days of the notification from the Department of Health, Robinson had to pay the judgment; show the Department of Health a copy of a “timely filed notice of appeal;” show the copy of a bond in the amount required by law; or show a court order staying the judgment until the appeal’s disposition.
Robinson didn’t answer the notice. Online court records don’t indicate that he has paid the judgment.
In an email to the estate’s lawyer David Rash, Robinson references that he’s no longer practicing. Online state profiles say he obtained his Florida license in 2002 and surrendered his California license in 2020. The American Board of Internal Medicine says Robinson was certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease and critical care medicine, but is no longer certified in pulmonary disease nor is he participating in maintenance of his certification.
Emails to Robinson’s addresses listed in court papers haven’t been answered.
Life and death in Coral Springs
The lawsuit claims Nadege Dumont came into Coral Springs Medical Center on Nov. 6, 2014, at 35 weeks pregnant with high blood pressure, swelling from blood vessel fluid leakage and rapid weight gain. The suit claimed they were conditions preceding eclampsia, seizures or coma afflicting a pregnant woman, which can threaten the life of the mother and child.
When Dumont’s condition didn’t improve over the next five days, the lawsuit said, her ob-gyn doctor and maternal fetal medicine doctors decided to induce labor. She gave birth to a girl by C-section on Nov. 11.
But on Nov. 14, after Dumont’s blood pressure remained high and she felt shortness of breath and chest pain, she was transferred to the critical care unit. Robinson and Dr. Lal Bhagchandani were the critical care and pulmonologist specialists.
Dumont’s breathing worsened into Nov. 15 as fluids began filling her lungs, the lawsuit claimed, but at 10 a.m., Robinson decided against intubating her. The lawsuit accused Robinson, Bhagchandani and Dr. Richard Polakoff of giving Dumont medication that further hampered her ability to breathe and not intubating her.
It also accused Robinson of not answering STAT calls and stating that a different doctor had to come in to intubate Dumont around 2:45 p.m. After Dumont’s heart stopped the first time, the lawsuit said, the doctors decided to transfer her to Broward General Medical Center for a “higher level of medical care.”
After Dumont’s heart stopped two more times, which the lawsuit blamed on “severe respiratory distress” and “pulmonary edema or fluid in the lungs,” Dumont died at 6:21 p.m.
A lawsuit was filed Nov. 3, 2016, against all the doctors involved and the North Broward Hospital District.
A settlement is just paper until someone pays paper
In December, after being ordered by the courts to solve things, Robinson and attorney David Rash exchanged emails that were included in a later motion to enforce the settlement.
Robinson continued to insist that he hadn’t done anything wrong.
He emailed in part that “In good faith, I offered $50,000 — twice. I’m now aware North Broward Hospital District settled for $15,000. The deeper pockets with more liability in this cause was released with little in settlement to the little girl you mention in your offer.”
Rash countered that the concept of sovereign immunity, which caps the damages that can be brought against a state agency at $200,000, means North Broward Hospital District didn’t have “deep pockets.” Also, the cardiologist, nursing staff, ob-gyn and emergency medicine specialist would give testimony against Robinson.
“The settlement with Broward Health is confidential, so how it is that you found out is very troubling and will be brought to the court’s attention,” Rash wrote.
Eventually, Robinson offered a $70,000 settlement in an email and Rash accepted on Dec. 16, 2021.
After that, Rash wrote in the enforcement motion, Robinson “refuses to cooperate, refuses to accept any terms and refuses to sign any release and terms of the settlement agreement.”
