The Latest on the trial of a Detroit-area doctor who was accused of malpractice in the wrong diagnosis of epilepsy in a child (all times local):
4:05 p.m.
A Michigan health-care provider says it will appeal after a jury awarded more than $3 million to a woman who was wrongly diagnosed with epilepsy as a child.
In this June 3, 2019 photo, Mariah Martinez enters court in Detroit. A jury has awarded more than $3 million to Martinez, who was misdiagnosed with epilepsy, one of hundreds of people to accuse Dr. Yasser Awaad of malpractice. Jurors on Monday, June 24, 2019 said Dr. Awaad breached the standard of care in his treatment of Martinez. Oakwood Healthcare was found negligent in how it supervised him. (AP PhotoEdward J. White)
Spokesman Mark Geary says Beaumont Health believes Mariah Martinez was "treated appropriately" when she was a patient at Oakwood Healthcare in suburban Detroit. Oakwood merged with Beaumont after the lawsuit was filed.
Martinez accused Dr. Yasser Awaad of intentionally misreading tests that were part of her epilepsy diagnosis when she was 9 years old. Another doctor four years later said she didn't have epilepsy.
Martinez, now 26 years old, is one of hundreds of people who accuse Awaad of malpractice. Her case was the first to go to trial. The award likely will be reduced because it exceeds a financial cap under Michigan law.
12:20 p.m.
A jury has awarded more than $3 million to a woman who was misdiagnosed with epilepsy, one of hundreds of people to accuse a Detroit-area doctor of malpractice.
Jurors on Monday said Dr. Yasser Awaad breached the standard of care in his treatment of Mariah Martinez. Oakwood Medical Center was found negligent in its supervision of him.
Martinez says the verdict lifts a "big weight" from her shoulders. Lawyers for Awaad and Oakwood declined to comment.
Martinez, now 26 years old, was told she had epilepsy at age 9. Awaad said EEG tests that measure brain waves revealed abnormalities. But after four years, another doctor found her results were normal.
Awaad and Oakwood will likely ask that the jury's award be reduced because it exceeds a cap under Michigan law.
TOKYO (AP) — The American envoy to the United Nations called Friday for countries armed with atomic weapons to pursue nuclear disarmament as she visited the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki, Japan.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who became the first U.S. cabinet member to visit Nagasaki, stressed the importance of dialogue and diplomacy amid a growing nuclear threat in the region.
“We must continue to work together to create an environment for nuclear disarmament. We must continue to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in every corner of the world,” she said after a tour of the atomic bomb museum.
“For those of us who already have those weapons, we must pursue arms control. We can and must work to ensure that Nagasaki is the last place to ever experience the horror of nuclear weapons,” she added, standing in front of colorful hanging origami cranes, a symbol of peace.
The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second attack three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.
Nagasaki Gov. Kengo Oishi said in a statement that he believed Thomas-Greenfield's visit and her first-person experience at the museum “will be a strong message in promoting momentum of nuclear disarmament for the international society at a time the world faces a severe environment surrounding atomic weapons.”
Oishi said he conveyed to the ambassador the increasingly important role of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in emphasizing the need of nuclear disarmament.
Thomas-Greenfield's visit to Japan comes on the heels of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit to the United States last week and is aimed at deepening Washington's trilateral ties with Tokyo and Seoul. During her visit to South Korea earlier this week, she held talks with South Korean officials, met with defectors from North Korea and visited the demilitarized zone.
The ambassador said the United States is looking into setting up a new mechanism for monitoring North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Russia and China have thwarted U.S.-led efforts to step up U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile testing since 2022, underscoring a deepening divide between permanent Security Council members over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
She said it would be “optimal” to launch the new system next month, though it is uncertain if that is possible.
The U.N. Security Council established a committee to monitor sanctions, and the mandate for its panel of experts to investigate violations had been renewed for 14 years until last month, when Russia vetoed another renewal.
In its most recent report, the panel of experts said it is investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023 valued at approximately $3 billion, with the money reportedly being used to help fund its weapons development.
The United States, Japan and South Korea have been deepening security ties amid growing tension in the region from North Korea and China.
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, right, speaks to Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, second right, as they wait for a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, right, walk to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, talk prior to a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, prepare to talk during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
