David Woodruff, Attorney
Posted on 07 May 2012.

LAW WEEK COLORADO

David Woodruff took home Case of the Year honors at last week’s Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Spring Dinner for a birth injury case stretching nearly five years.

“We are fighters for those who can’t fight,” Woodruff told the crowd as he accepted the award.

The partner at Hillyard Wallberg Kudla & Sloane in July helped obtain a $70 million arbitration award against the company which owned both the hospital the family of Abigael Blasco went to and the health maintenance organization covering the family. Nurses at the hospital, per instructions from the HMO, administered Blasco’s mother (Rebecca Blasco) an ulcer medication to induce labor despite warnings from the government and the manufacturer itself against this off-label use.

The medication, which cost more than $100 less than the approved labor-inducing medication, had been indicated in too-forceful contractions during labor, which compromises blood flow to the fetus.

The company provided Woodruff with differing fetal heart tracing reports from the day of the delivery. Comparing the different versions, he was able to show that Abigael had suffered a lack of oxygen during labor, which led to developmental issues for the 12-year-old.

Rebecca and Abigael Blasco with David Woodruff

Fighting for those who can’t fight seemed a theme of the night. Michael Rosenberg, shareholder at Roberts Levin Rosenberg, one of the two other nominees for case of the year, said of his case helping an accident victim, “If you have to fight for 11 years, then you do it.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the night’s keynote speaker, was seen outside the ballroom pacing the hallways going over what he would later say. Stopped to chat, Kennedy called trial lawyers “my people.”
“These are the most important people to democracy,” he said. “They’re fighting for justice.”
Source: Law Week Online
http://www.lawweekonline.com/2012/05/david-woodruff-wins-case-of-the-year/

Birth Injury Case – Largest Arbitration Award in U.S. History
David Scott Woodruff
Case Conclusion Date:July 6, 2011
Practice Area:Medical Malpractice
Outcome:$70 million award, the largest in U.S. history
Description: Case involved a baby born at an HMO hospital in Los Angeles, CA. Mother was given improper dose of misoprostil (Cytotec) and Pitocin, and suffered uterine hyperstimulation, causing fetal asphyxia and severe brain injury. Child is now 11 years old and has severe mental and physical disabilities. Case was tried to a judge/Arbitrator in Orange County, CA.

Source: http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/80237-co-david-woodruff-1412913/legal_cases/72634

Youtube video of a lawyer, Mike Papantonio, talking about the methods of Pfizer (now the owners of Searle) who make Cytotec:
“Ian Read, who is the CEO of Pfizer. . . you talk about a bottom feeder of CEOs, it’s him.” (paraphrased)