Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawyer BlogA jury in a medical malpractice case tried in federal court has awarded $14.5 million to a young boy who suffered catastrophic injuries, including cerebral palsy, during birth. The lawsuit alleged that the healthcare providers involved negligently guided the mother through labor, prescribing a drug – Pitocin – that sped up the delivery process to a rate at which the child did not have sufficient time to recover and oxygenate between contractions. The Plaintiffs’ position was that when the fetal heart monitor began to demonstrate that the child was being deprived of oxygen the administration of Pitocin should have been terminated. The evidence also demonstrated that the hospital’s written rules prohibited use of Pitocin in cases where the mother is dilating, making progress in the labor process and experiencing strong contractions.
Articles Posted in Birth Trauma Malpractice / Cerebral Palsy Malpractice
Negligence During Delivery of Baby Results in $30.5 Million Jury Verdict
Late last month, a Georgia jury awarded $30.5 million to the family of a child who suffered a catastrophic brain injury while being delivered. The child’s mother presented to her OB-GYN for a regularly-scheduled visit at 35 weeks, where a non-stress test was performed and found to be non-reactive. A few days after that scheduled visit, the mother returned for an unscheduled visit with a chief complaint of reduced or absent fetal movement. A second non-stress test was again non-reactive and an ultrasound demonstrated possibility of reversal end diastolic blood flow, a severe condition that results from an increase in resistance to blood flow within the placenta.
Birth Injury Results in $28.7 Million Medical Malpractice Jury Verdict
Last year, a judge in an Ohio medical malpractice case awarded $24.9 million to a child born with cerebral palsy and to his parents. According to the lawsuit, the boy, born in 2010, suffered a deprivation of oxygen during his birth. The family alleged that the signs and symptoms of fetal distress were not recognized or acted upon in a timely fashion, despite the use of a fetal heart monitor. The lack of oxygen resulted in a severe and irreversible brain injury that caused developmental delays and inability to function as a normal child.
Botched Delivery Results in Death of Infant, $10 Million Jury Verdict
A Texas jury has awarded $10 million to the surviving family members of an infant who suffered catastrophic injury during birth ultimately bringing her short life to an end. During the two week trial, evidence was presented that during the delivery, the Defendant-Obstetrician repeatedly applied forceps which are instruments shaped like a pair of salad spoons to the baby’s head to try help guide the baby out of the birth canal. It was only after a fourth attempt with forceps failed to free the infant that the obstetrician decided to convert to a cesarean delivery.
Birth Injury Medical Malpractice Case Results In $53 Million Jury Verdict
A Chicago jury has awarded a Cook County record $53 million to a now-12-year-old who suffered a devastating brain injury at birth. The boy’s mother arrived to the hospital approximately 40 weeks in to her pregnancy complaining of decreased fetal movement. The lawsuit alleged that at that time, the hospital failed to, among other things, carefully monitor the mother and unborn child, perform a timely cesarean section, follow a chain of command, obtain accurate cord blood gases and recognize abnormal fetal heart rate patters that should have signaled to the doctors that the baby was in distress and suffering from hypoxia.
Birth Injury Lawsuit Results in $6.5 Million Settlement
The parents of a child born with severe brain damage at a military hospital in Fort Hood, Texas recently settled their medical malpractice lawsuit against the United States government for $6.5 million. The medical malpractice lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin, alleged physicians ignored evidence that the mother’s contractions were over-stimulated by the excessive use of oxytocin, which caused severe distress in the baby and forced the mother to deliver by emergency Cesarean-section.
Obstetrician’s Medical Malpractice Results in $4 Million Verdict
For a parent, one of the greatest fears is that something bad will happen to their child. Mothers take special care when pregnant to ensure that their child is born healthy and will develop correctly. However, one thing that mothers cannot avoid is the risk of complications during the birthing process.
Birth Trauma Verdict Upheld Against The University of Maryland Medical Center
Maryland Appellate Courts Weighs In On Medical Malpractice Suit Against University of Maryland Medical System Corporation (UMMS)
Brain Damage to Child Surrounding Delivery – Medical Malpractice
A multi-million dollar cerebral palsy medical malpractice lawsuit recently settled out of court. Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii ultimately paid a family $11 million dollars in the settlement following a series of serious medical errors resulting in severe brain damage to their child. The child, who was born in 2005, was deprived of oxygen at birth and now suffers from cerebral palsy. A breakdown in communication amongst doctors triggered an hour-long delivery in which the child was born with her umbilical cord wrapped tightly around her neck. Round-the-clock care will likely be required for the rest of her life. This medical negligence case was not the result of misdiagnosis, but rather stemmed from a failure by doctors to take essential steps quickly enough to help the child while she was in distress during birth. The series of medical errors continued when doctors tried to resuscitate the child after delivery but mistakenly pumped air into her stomach, instead of lungs, when the respiratory tube was placed in her esophagus by an inexperienced intern.
Medical malpractice causing cerebral palsy
A California judge has approved a $5.75 million settlement in favor of a 4-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia. The child got $1.75 million up front and another $4 million in future payments to help pay for his medical and assistive care as well as future lost earnings over the rest of his life. The boys’ parents also have been awarded $250,000 to waive any future wrongful death claims in the event their son’s death is caused by his condition.
Improper resuscitaiton causing cerebral palsy
A New York jury has awarded a family $43 million in a medical malpractice case. The jury found that a hospital failed to properly resuscitate a child at birth, causing cerebral palsy. The family had previously settled out of court with the doctor involved in the delivery.
Negligence During Delivery of Child, Lack of Oxygen, Birth Injury
Recently, a South Carolina jury awarded the family of a newborn $4.4 million dollars for medical malpractice/negligence stemming from the delivery of the child. In their complaint, the family alleged that a nurse failed to properly monitor the baby’s fetal heart monitoring strips — strips that show the heartbeat rate of the baby — and, as a result, did not realize that the baby was in fetal distress and required emergent medical attention and/or delivery. As a result of this negligence, the family alleged that the baby experienced prolonged periods without oxygen while in utero and during the delivery. The baby was delivered alive, but later diagnosed with cerebral-palsy like complications. At the age of 5, the baby died from these complications.
Birth Injury Malpractice
A jury has issued a $31 million verdict against an Ohio hospital in a birth injury case, which could be the largest jury award for a medical malpractice case in that state’s history. The verdict included nearly $26 million for future medical care for the boy, who is now 8.
Fetal Monitoring Strips – Medical Malpractice
A South Carolina jury has awarded $4.4 million to the parents of a 4-year-old girl who died after suffering brain injury at birth at a hospital there. The jury found that the hospital was at fault in 2003 when it assigned a nurse trainee to monitor the mother, who had come to the hospital three days before her scheduled induction, complaining of nausea and vomiting. Lawyers for the family argued the nurse trainee misread fetal heart monitoring information showing the baby was in severe distress and needed emergency intervention. The infant subsequently was born with a severe brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation, and died of complications from cerebral palsy more than four years later. While the child was alive, the family endured constant challenges, including giving medication to battle seizures, taking her to therapy several times a week and relying on a feeding tube to keep her nourished.
Birth Injury / Cerebral Palsy Medical Malpractice
A Wisconsin court has approved an $18.2 million medical malpractice settlement from the government for a Milwaukee family whose daughter suffered severe brain damage during birth at a clinic. When the mother gave birth, her daughter was stuck in the birth canal for more than 20 minutes, and the girl suffered a major brain injury due to lack of oxygen. As a result of her birth injury, the girl will need assistance for the rest of her life, due to seizures, developmental delays and severe cerebral palsy. A copy of an article regarding the case can be found here.