Aaron’s New Hope

A Canon City family is pressing the flesh at the Florida State Legislature. Mitzi Roden and her teen son, Aaron are there hoping to find justice. You first met them with me in December. Mitzi won a lawsuit in 2007 that included a 30 million dollar settlement. It was brought against a Florida hospital for a medical mistake that left her son, Aaron in a wheelchair with 24-7 medical care needs.

He’s a young man who has to communicate through a computer, but has hopes just like every other teen. The Florida Legislature is meeting right now to decide on the amount of the settlement that lawmakers can approve. Because the hospital is government entity and the size of the payout lawmakers have to pass a bill to approve the payout. Recently a Florida state subcommittee okay’ed a ten million dollar payout.

Mitzi Roden told me that amount, while generous is not enough for her son’s needs. She’s praying for a minimum of 15 million and hopefully 18 million, because of the extensive medical needs of her son, Aaron.

The current Florida legislative session ends March 9th. If lawmakers don’t approve Aaron’s bill by then, the Canon City family will have to start over next year in the Florida Legislature. The regular session doesn’t start again until February.