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Apr 27, 2007 7:49 pm US/Eastern
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Video Exposes Woman Who Claimed She Was Paralyzed
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MIAMI (CBS4) ―
A South Florida woman who sued a hospital for malpractice after she claimed a medical mistake left her paralyzed was caught walking on camera.
Wanda Davis Johnson claimed her life was forever altered following surgery at Mercy Hospital when she was allegedly left paralyzed from the waste down, unable to walk or stand.
Johnson sued the hospital and ten doctors claiming they had botched her care, leaving her forever crippled. She said, under oath, that she cannot walk and that she was paralyzed.
That's why investigators, who were hired by the hospitals attorney, were amazed when Johnson was caught on camera walking, despite her claims of paraplegia.
Even more surprising was when Johnson was put under oath again, not knowing the video existed.
"We got the opportunity to redepose her after receiving the video, and again asked her could she walk, could she not walk, what was she able to do and she denied she could walk." said Mercy Hospital attorney Mark Leibowitz.
After viewing the tape, the judge threw Johnson's lawsuit against the hospital and the doctors out of court.
"This is the worst case of outright fraud that I have ever seen in 22 years," said judge Gisela Cardonne-Ely. "There was a scheme to defraud the court."
Johnson's attorney's claim they had no idea she was faking her condition.
"Obviously, we were shocked when we got the information," said Wanda Davis-Johnson's attorney John Lawlor. "It wasn't something we expected, it wasn't something we believed was true, but obviously the tape told a different story than we had been told throughout the litigation."
CBS-4's Gary Nelson attempted to contact Wanda Davis-Johnson at her home on Friday to discuss the case, but no one answered the door at her home.
Attorneys on both sides have little hope they'll recover the cost of this case from Wanda Davis-Johnson, but this is a case that could end up in criminal court.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)