Articles Posted in Birth Trauma Malpractice / Cerebral Palsy Malpractice

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.

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.

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.

Maryland Appellate Courts Weighs In On Medical Malpractice Suit Against University of Maryland Medical System Corporation (UMMS)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.