Court awards $15 million to birth injury victim and family

Delivering a baby is a precarious procedure because it involves the lives of the mother and the child. Residents of New Haven, Connecticut have confidence that the delivery of their child will be safe because it will be handled by a medical professional. Unfortunately, instead of providing quality care in child delivery, some medical practitioners can cause birth injury.

For instance, a couple from Indiana won a $15 million medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor and a hospital. The compensation was awarded for damages that resulted in their daughter’s cerebral palsy and brain injury.

The complaint says that the hospital performed a fetal blood sampling process with inadequate staff. The hospital also failed to provide continual ultrasound assistance over the course of the process. As a result, multiple attempts were made to insert a needle into the 33-week-old fetus’ umbilical vein. The lawsuit charged that the staff did not impede the procedure, although it was elective. The complaint says the doctor failed to acknowledge the fetal distress and delivered the baby hastily without informed consent from the parents before the surgery.

Readers from New Haven, Connecticut will learn how complicated and tragic birth injuries can be. The plaintiffs’ daughter cannot speak, she has cerebral palsy in all four limbs, she must be fed through a tube, and she is bound to a wheelchair. Aside from attending school, she receives continual nursing care. The daughter needs care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In New Haven, Connecticut, procedures that cover the delivery of a baby can cause tragic outcomes and may affect the quality of life of the baby in the long run. If negligence occurred during labor and delivery and the hospital or medical staff contributed to the injury or illness, a personal injury lawsuit is warranted. A legal professional can review the facts surrounding the baby’s delivery and assess the amount of damages that could be awarded to compensate the injured parties for their injuries.

Source: Courierpress.com, “Evansville couple wins $15 million lawsuit against St. Mary’s Medical Center,” Mark Wilson, August 26, 2013