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Prepared Witness Testimony The House Committee on Energy and Commerce
The Medical Liability Insurance Crisis: A Review of the Situation in Pennsylvania
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Miss. Heather Lewinski
My name is Heather Lewinski.I am a 17-year-old high school senior.I recently saw President Bush on television saying that Congress should
pass a law saying that doctors or hospitals who injure people through their
medical mistakes should never have to pay the patients more than $250,000 for
their pain and suffering.I do
not believe that doctors should be blamed for everything bad that happens to a
patient, but if they make a mistake, the patient's pain and suffering can be
way more than $250,000.Unfortunately, I know this from personal experience. When I was 8 years old, a
doctor performed a surgery on my face that never should have been done.He told my parents that he had tried this surgery successfully on many
other patients with my condition, but my parents and I later found out that
was not true.This doctor had never done the surgery before and, in fact,
we were told that no doctor in the whole United States had ever recommended
this surgery for a condition like mine.I
feel like the doctor was using me as a guinea pig! The doctor told my parents that he would be able to take care of my problem with two easy surgeries a few months apart.He also told my parents I would have no visible scars.I wish that doctor had just told the truth!I ended up with horrible scars all over my face, and I have gone through 14 major surgeries on my face to try to correct what he did.I have had so much pain over the past ten years and I can't even begin to tell you about all of it. I never had any surgery
before this doctor operated on me, so I never knew what to expect.After I went through the first surgery, I had so much pain like I had
never felt before.Since then, it
has never gotten better with any of my surgeries, and in addition has
instilled a horrible fear.Every
time one of my surgeries was approaching, I would get very frightened and
always thinking about the surgery and the pain I will be in.It would get so bad that I would actually have to sleep with my mother
for many nights before the surgery.That
went on with all of my operations, and it did not matter whether I was 9, 13
or 14 years old. This makes
me feel stupid.Here I am a
teenager, but I end up sleeping with mom because I am so afraid of surgery,
the hospital, and everything that goes with it. After every surgery I had, I
would be forced to stay in the hospital for a while.Then when I go home where I would be in bed or on the sofa for weeks
and weeks.My mouth would be
wired shut.My face would be
swollen; my entire head would be wrapped in bandages.Sometimes the pain was so bad it would feel like my whole face was
going to explode.It was like
someone had a hammer and kept hitting me and hitting me. I remember one day we were driving to the hospital for one of my surgeries, and it was around Christmas time.There was a song on the radio called, "It's a Marshmallow World," and I started crying and saying to myself, "It really isn't a marshmallow world." I will never forget the first
time I looked at my face after surgery.The
doctor told us that I wouldn't have any noticeable scars.I took the bandages off my face and looked in the mirror, and I just
cried.I could not believe what
he had done to my face.He tried
to do another surgery to fix it, but that only made things worse.I not only had these thick red scars all over my face, but now the
corner of my mouth was all pulled down.I
looked like I had a stroke! After all of my surgeries, my
face and whole body would hurt so bad.I wanted to hide away because I did not want anyone to see
me.My appearance was so gruesome
that no one should have to see me. From third grade through eighth grade, I missed so much school from all of the surgeries that I had trouble keeping up.In third grade, I missed from March until the end of the year.In fourth grade, I missed from Thanksgiving break til the rest of the school year.In fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades, I missed anywhere from 3-5 months of school each year.I had to have tutors and be home schooled all this time.I remember that, even though I have always been a good student, they had to label me as "special ed" because I missed so much time from school.I hated that label! I still cannot believe I have
gone through 14 surgeries.You
never get used to the pain, and the fear never goes away.But by far the worst part about everything that has happened to me is
the way my face looks and how people treat me.I wish people could see the inside of me and know the kind of person I
really am, but all they see is those scars on my face, and they stare and
glare at me.From third grade
until now, every time I walk in the halls or into class or in the cafeteria,
people are staring, and I hate it!The
kids in school have constantly teased me and called me names like "Two
Face,"
the character from the Batman movie.I
hated to eat in the cafeteria because I could not close my mouth, and I would
drool profusely.Because of the
way the corner of my mouth looked, the kids would walk around school and pull
down their lip and mock me like they had a stroke. I hate to go out in public
because adults stare, and some of them even come up to me and ask questions.I remember once being in an ice cream parlor with my family and there
was a lady with her son, and she just kept pointing to my face and then
talking to her son.This sort of thing happens to me all the time. I really like people, but I
have only one close friend, my girlfriend Angela who I grew up with.It is so hard for me to meet new people and make friends because they
just stare.Even a few other kids
who are supposedly my "friends" at school will not walk with me in the halls,
and it seems like they always stay 2-3 steps behind me.I quit riding the bus from school a long time ago because it was
torture.My mom has to take me to
school and pick me up. Sometimes, I wish so hard that there was some magic, and I could just make myself invisible to other people but still be able to enjoy them. I am now a high school senior and I have never had a boy ask me on a date.I will be 18 in a few months, and I have never kissed a boy.I remember one time sitting in the cafeteria a few years ago, and a boy came up to me and asked me if I was doing anything on Friday.I was so excited that I almost fell over, but then he went back to his table with his other friends, and they all started laughing and pointing at me, and I then realized lit was just a big joke.I heard him say something like "Why would I go out with an ugly two-face loser?" The only school dance I ever
attended was in 9th grade.It was the Valentine's Day dance, and I wanted to go so bad,
but no one asked me.I finally
asked our a boy that lives next to me if he would go with me, and he was so
nice that he could not say no.I
was so excited and my parents really bought me the works B a new dress, new
shoes, make up, hair.My dad told
me that I looked like a princess, and then I just remember looking in the
mirror and seeing my face and hoping that the boy would not be looking at my
scars. I have never really been
involved in school activities because I just do not have that many friends.The one activity that I have that I really love is training and showing
dogs.I have been doing that for a few years.Other people hire me to train and show their dog, and I also
train and show my own dogs.I
usually compete in dog shows on the weekend in New York and some other states.I have been real lucky and have been able to win several awards
competing against adults at these shows.I think one of the reasons that I like dog training so much is that
animals can't stare or laugh at you. I will be graduating from high school in a few months, and I have already been accepted into college.Because of my fears of meeting new people, I chose a college that is close to my house so that I do not have to stay in a dorm with other kids. My biggest wish is that someday
I will find a boy who will look and see me for what is on the inside my heart
and in my mind and not my appearance.I would love to get married and have a family some day, but
if I am honest with myself, I do not know if that will ever happen so I have
made other plans.I will finish
college and become a kindergarten teacher.I have always loved babysitting kids and being around them.Little children do not stare so much, and they just accept
you for what's inside.I will teach
school and live in the country with lots of dogs, and I will be self-sufficient. I know that the President is
trying to make good decisions, but if he could see everything that I have gone
through for the last ten years and everything that I am going to go through for
the rest of my life, I think he would realize that he is wrong about this law
and that every patient is entitled to be judged as an individual based on what
they have gone through.I think
that most doctors try to do the best they can for people, but sometimes they do
things that should not be done, and when that happens, I think they should be
responsible for all of the harm they cause and not just part of it. I know that nothing can be done to change what happened to me, but I hope that if we keep the laws strong maybe a doctor will be more careful in the future and no other little girl will have to go through what I have. Thank you very much.
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