The jury in a birth injury lawsuit has just awarded the family $20.6 million to help care for medical expenses and care for a severely disabled child. The personal injury claim was based on alleged medical malpractice that occurred during the delivery of the child.
According to reports, the medical staff in charge committed several errors that led to the child suffering oxygen deprivation, ultimately resulting in serious disabilities. Evidence presented at trial revealed that the mother was admitted to the hospital when she was 32 week pregnant. Because both the mother and the fetus had a history of high blood pressure, the hospital staff decided to induce labor. As the result of the induction, the baby's oxygen levels declined. However, despite these signs of fetal distress, the physician overseeing the delivery failed to perform an immediate C-section, but rather allowed the labor to continue for three more hours. Plaintiffs also introduced evidence that when the baby was born, its umbilical cord was wrapped around its neck, and that the child suffered oxygen deprivation during the birth process and suffered a brain injury. The baby was subsequently diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
The Maryland Court of Appeals, the jurisdiction where the case was tried, rejected the defendant's appeal, which makes this one of the largest birth injury verdicts in the country.
For more information, or if you believe that your child suffered a birth injury as the result of medical malpractice, please contact the dedicated California birth injury lawyers at Bostwick & Peterson, LLP for an immediate consultation.