Parents file lawsuit over teen's death

The wrongful death claim targets a doctor and a cardiology group.

By JAMAL THALJI, Times Staff Writer
Published August 25, 2007

When Zoe Rott walked into Land O'Lakes High School that fateful day a year ago, her family was already worried about her.

Two weeks earlier, the freshman was hit with chest pains so bad they left her in tears. Medical tests were scheduled, the family said, but a cardiologist told Zoe she was okay.

Then the 14-year-old collapsed on her way to gym class on Aug. 14, 2006.

She was pronounced dead at University Community Hospital in Tampa.

Now her family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Hillsborough circuit court against those who treated the teen, accusing them of negligence in Zoe's death.

Her cardiologist, Dr. Frances Arrillaga, and the Tampa practice Pediatric Cardiology Associates are among those named in the civil suit filed Thursday. Neither could be reached for comment Friday evening.

The suit said Zoe first complained of shortness of breath, chest pain and "aching" arms on Aug. 7, brought on by physical activity. She had to be taken to the emergency room Aug. 9 and later complained of "blurred vision" and "lightheadedness," the suit said.

The teen was on the Land O'Lakes High junior varsity cheerleading squad, but a doctor told her to stop until she saw a cardiologist, according to the suit.

The lawsuit said the cardiologist, Arrillaga, told Zoe and her family on Aug. 11 that her complaints "did not sound cardiac in origin."

But the doctor had Zoe wear a monitor and scheduled a stress test a few days later, the suit said, and cleared Zoe "to full activity."

The teen was to attend cheerleading practice the day she died, her family told the Times.

The lawsuit accuses her cardiologist of failing to "perform an immediate cardiac stress test;" failing to discover that Zoe's left coronary artery was small and narrow; failing to hospitalize Zoe; and failing to restrict Zoe's physical activity "until an appropriate diagnosis could be made."

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the teen's parents, mother Little Dawn Crazyriver and father Mark Rott, who seek unspecified damages for mental pain and suffering, loss of companionship and medical and funeral expenses.

[Last modified August 24, 2007, 22:09:06]