Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

A birth injury is when the direct cause of a baby’s medical complications is directly caused by the delivery procedure. Birth injuries are often the fault of medical malpractice. If during the delivery the procedure involved substandard or less than adequate medical care a person may have a claim for medical malpractice. If this sounds like your case, contact a medical malpractice attorney in your area.

Read more about medical malpractice birth injury claims here.

A jury recently awarded $2 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit to the family of a woman who died after being given medication following the delivery of her baby. The jury determined that the doctor was negligent in giving medication to the new mother.

For the full article.

American Association for Justice is hosting a seminar on medical malpractice lawsuits this weekend in Phoenix, Arizona. The seminar will provide an in-depth understanding of medical negligence issues and trial strategies.

For more information.

The American Association for Justice (AAJ) will host a medical negligence lawsuit seminar from January 30-31, 2009 in Phoenix, AZ. The seminar will cover a wide variety of medical malpractice lawsuits, including birth injury lawsuits.

To sign up and for more information, click here.

A jury awarded $20 million medical malpractice settlement finding that a boy’s lasting medical problems caused by mistakes made at his birth. Jurors deliberated for about four hours before deciding that both the doctor and the hospital were negligent in their treatment of the mother who was giving birth to the baby boy. The jury assigned 60 percent of the negligence to the doctor and 40 percent to the hospital. The day the baby was born, the mother called her doctor because she believed there may be something wrong with her unborn child. The doctor, who was not her primary obstetrician, told her to go to the medical center. After the mother arrived, she was hooked up to a fetal monitoring system, which indicated the baby was in distress. The nurses called the obstetrician who gave the mother advice, but he did not arrive for two hours. In that time, the baby got very little oxygen. The doctor’s decision to attempt to induce labor worsened the situation. By the time the baby was delivered by Cesarean-section about four hours after the mother arrived at the medical center, irreparable damage had been done. The child has cerebral palsy, no use of his hands, is almost completely blind and is mentally retarded. The child is now 7 years old and functions at the level of a 6-to-9 month old. His parents will receive $2 million of the award for health care expenses and related costs. He was additionally given $18.5 million for lost earning capacity, pain and suffering and medical expenses. The family stated that the majority of the money will be used for the 24-hour care he needs for the rest of his life. To read the full story, click here.

A west Chicago suburban woman whose son was born with severe brain damage has agreed to a $5.5 million settlement with the doctors and hospital after they caused a lifetime of problems for her son. The mother of the boy agreed to a settlement with the hospital in Melrose Park, Illinois and the two doctors. After the mother was admitted to the hospital and given a drug to induce contractions, her baby’s heart rate started to drop. She argues that an obstetrician should have been called in, but instead the family doctor tried to deliver the baby using a vacuum retractor. When the vacuum retractor didn’t work, he tried using forceps which became lodged in the mother’s uterine wall. The baby boy, who ended up being delivered by C-section by another doctor had been deprived of oxygen long enough to cause brain damage. The young boy is now 6 and is unable to walk, talk, feed himself or sit on his own. A Cook County jury found only the first doctor liable for the young boy’s injuries but the hospital and the second doctor will also have to contribute to the damages. To read the full story, click here.

University of Connecticut studies show that there may be a relationship between cesarean delivery rates and medical malpractice rates. Normal vaginal delivery is considered safer than a cesarean delivery for both mother and baby if the birth is uncomplicated, however cesarean deliveries are recommended for any complications. The rising number of cesarean deliveries may have caused the mean premiums for medical malpractice insurance for obstetricians to increase from less than $80,000 for an individual physician to more than $120,000. Many medical malpractice lawsuits come when a baby is not born using the cesarean delivery and has poor fetal outcome. Doctors argue that these deliveries are risky for the mother of the child, and the decision to perform a cesarean is a great one. Nationwide, cesarean deliveries account for 30.2 percent of all deliveries in 2005, compared to 20.7 percent in 1996. To read the full story, click here.

An Illinois Medical malpractice lawsuit filed seven years ago has finally ended with a million dollar medical malpractice settlement. The large medical malpractice settlement did not come without sacrifice. Illinois medical malpractice plaintiff, Vanessa Jenkins, brought a lawsuit against an Illinois hospital after her son was delivered with a birth defect. Her son sustained brain injuries and other personal injuries as a result of the hospital’s negligent misconduct. The negligent doctor who used a vacuum extractor during delivery of the child caused the child to suffer from serious personal injuries including brain injuries, mental retardation and cerebral palsy. To reach more about this record setting medical malpractice settlement look at on Point Medical Litigation articles or click here to read an article.

The Third District Appellate Court in Illinois ruled that a wronged woman could recover from a negligent physician even though she had previously been awarded damages in a suit against the hospital. The woman’s claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress against the physician was validated by the court, especially given the extreme negligence displayed by the physician. The woman’s infant son died during child birth after a premature delivery. Her physician was not present at the hospital at the time of the delivery and do no other doctor was present to assist in the delivery. As a result, the woman sat with her baby in a partially-delivered position for over one hour until her physician arrived and completed delivering the baby, who was deceased by this time. A jury awarded the woman damages based on negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

For the full decision, click here:

Vanessa Jenkins gave birth to her son, Cody Smithey, in 2001 at Valley West Community Hospital. Jenkins, who is from Aurora, Illinois, was allegedly having an uneventful labor until Dr. Martin Brauwelier repeatedly used a vacuum extractor device, using it 18 times within 50 minutes, unsuccessfully. At that point an emergency Caesarean section was performed by a different doctor because the baby’s fetal heart rate displayed signs of distress, at least that is what Jenkins’ lawsuit alleged. After Cody suffered brain damage and ended up with cerebral palsy and mental retardation, Jenkins filed suit claiming his birth injuries resulted from medical negligence. The medical malpractice suit, filed six years ago against the Illinois hospital, its staff, and the doctor, settled Tuesday for $15.35 million.

Read more here.

An Aurora woman has announced her $15.5 million dollar settlement in a birth injury medical malpractice lawsuit. Her son sustained a brain injury at birth when she went to Valley West Community Hospital to deliver her son. This is the largest medical malpractice settlement in DeKalb county ever announced.

See the news story here.

One of the greatest organizational problems facing hospitals today is the battle over medical records. Many patients find that it can take months or years to get a hold of their own medical records after treatment. Even worse, some families of victims of medical malpractice or wrongful death have waited for years to obtain their loved one’s medical records from hospitals. Often, lost or missing records are simply part of hospital error and not a deliberate attempt to delay, but on some occasions hospitals may frustrate a patient’s records request purposefully. Patients and victims’ families must be aware that statutes of limitation often require that medical malpractice lawsuits be filed within a certain period of time after the injury occurs or is discovered. This means that patients and victims’ families must decide to file a medical malpractice lawsuit and contact their medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible and begin the medical records request process.

Read more here.

A new study published in the journal Pediatrics shows that about 1 in 15 children are harmed each year by medication dosing errors at hospitals. The study revealed that children are harmed by dosing errors and incorrect medication substantially more often than previously thought. The study also revealed that some of these dosing errors and patient injuries could be prevented easily.

Medication dosing errors in children are the central issue in popular actor Dennis Quaid’s lawsuit in Chicago against Deerfield, Illinois-based Baxter Healthcare. Quaid is suing Baxter, a large pharmaceutical manufacturer, after Quaid’s baby twins received a Heparin overdose. The medical malpractice lawsuit is pending before Judge Quinn in the Circuit Court of Cook County.

The full text of the Pediatrics study is available here.

A jury recently awarded a woman and her son $19 million as a result of a birth injury medical malpractice lawsuit against her obstetrician. The son was born with celebral palsy and cortical blindness. After verdict, the mother said “No amount of money will make up for what happened to my son.”

For the full article.

In 1990, a doctor delivered a baby with a permanently disabled arm. The parents filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor and hospital. The medical malpractice lawsuit alleged that the hospital negligently gave staff privileges to a doctor who had been sued repeatedly and lacked proper malpractice insurance. Just last Wednesday, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine temporarily suspended this doctor’s license.

This temporary suspension finally occurs after many incidents of medical malpractice and still is only temporary. Doctors must be held accountable in a more timely fashion before more people fall victim to medical malpractice.

For the full article.

A $22 million verdict was recently awarded in a Cook County, Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit. The jury ruled that the hospital was negligent during the birth of a 34-year-old woman's son in that staff did not properly treat difficulties with the woman's blood pressure. The woman went to an Evanston hospital two weeks before her scheduled date of delivery due to complaints of severe headache and abdominal discomfort. Medical staff soon noticed that the woman had unusually high blood pressure. Tests eventually showed that she had HELLP syndrome, meaning that she had a low platelet count and elevated liver enzymes, or hemolytic anemia. Attorneys alleged that she was not treated properly for this problem, by being given the wrong amounts of medication at the wrong times. Her son was successfully delivered by cesarean section, but the woman's blood pressure rose and she suffered a major brain hemorrhage, dying four days later. The jury found that hospital staff was negligent and that she was irreplaceable to her son and husband, ultimately awarding the multi-million dollar verdict.

Click here for the full article

In a recent medical malpractice lawsuit, a birth injury that was allegedly caused by a nurse-doctor communication breakdown yielded a $1.2 million settlement. Nurses were concerned that the birth was taking too long, but were hesitant to consult the doctor about these fears due to his reputation of angry responses to perceived criticism. The infant developed cerebral palsy.

Physicians too commonly react harshly to instances where they feel bothered by the nursing staff, such as late-night clarification requests, difficulties with procedures, changes in patient condition and more. The negative consequences of verbal abuse or disruption in hospitals are significant; reduced communication, team collaboration, information transfer and concentration are all reported as responses to disruptive behavior. Patient safety is compromised in many ways by these reported breakdowns. Medical errors increase in disruptive or abusive situations and the quality of care decreases. Patient mortality increases with these outbursts. Medication errors have also been caused by verbally abusive hospital staff relations.

Click here for the full article

Continue reading "Hospital conduct leads to reduced patient safety and medical malpractice lawsuits" »

A $14 million medical malpractice verdict in favor of a boy who was brain damaged during birth has been tossed by a New York appellate court based on the defense's allegations that the jury was unfairly influenced by both the plaintiffs and the judge. The defense claimed that the judge clearly favored the plaintiffs and that she also acted inappropriately when she gave gifts to the brain damaged boy and the jurors during the holidays. The jury's verdict was announced at a much smaller figure but after the trial two jurors told the plaintiff's attorney that they had intended that amount to be annual. After hearing the plaintiff's side, the judge amended the award to $14 million. This settlement was thrown out and a new trial will be held because during the time after the initial verdict, the plaintiffs' attorney communicated with jurors outside of the courtroom. The attorney's actions could be considered professional malpractice.

A multimillion-dollar medical malpractice lawsuit judgment has been awarded against an obstetrician found negligent in not treating a newborn for herpes. In a 150-page written decision released last week, a Justice stated that the obstetrician was negligent in not suspecting the then 17 year-old mother had herpes and not referring her newborn child to an infectious disease specialist or neonatologist. Because of the doctor’s negligence, the now 14 year-old child has been left profoundly mentally delayed and is functioning at the level of a year-old child.

For the full article.

A Chicago medical malpractice lawsuit was filed today by John J. Perconti of Chicago medical malpractice law firm Levin & Perconti against St. Anthony Hospital and an emergency room physician. The lawsuit alleges that the hospital and doctor failed to diagnose meningitis in a 14-year old baby girl which caused her death.

The baby was evaluated and treated in the emergency room at St. Anthony on March 14, 2006. A blood culture test was ordered and Motrin, Tylenol, and IV fluids were prescribed. The child was sent home with her mother. At 7:00 p.m. that evening, the emergency room nurse was notified by the laboratory that Anna’s blood culture (test) showed the presence of gram positive cocci (multiple forms of bacteria).

Attorney John Perconti explained the medical error: “When the emergency room nurse and doctor learned the abnormal results of the blood culture they should have notified Elizabeth Nunez immediately and advised her to bring Anna back to the ER for further evaluation, hospitalization and antibiotic therapy. Instead, Dr. Lachica called Elizabeth at home to check on Anna’s condition and advised her to see her own pediatrician in the morning. St. Anthony’s nd Dr. Lachica failed to inform Elizabeth that Anna had tested positive for gram positive cocci, a life-threatening bacteria. They also failed to notify Anna’s pediatrician about this abnormal result. With this type of infection, you must err on the side of caution or face the risk of losing a life.”

Click here for the press release

A jury recently awarded $8 million to a 5-year-old and his mother in a medical malpractice case against a midwife and a Medical Center. The personal injury lawsuit proved that the midwife and nurse committed medical malpractice when they failed to order a C-section when the baby experienced fetal distress. As a result, the baby was deprived of oxygen during birth, which led to cerebral palsy. The jury award will go to pay for the constant care that the boy will need for his entire life.

Click here for the full article

A family whose son was severely brain-damaged during a botched delivery at a teaching hospital recently received a $26.5 million jury verdict in their favor from a medical malpractice lawsuit. The son will never walk or talk due to the medical malpractice during his delivery. The son, now 10 years old, has cerebral palsy and requires round-the-clock care.

For the full article.

In an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit, a DuPage County jury recently awarded $12 million to a Warrenville, Illinois couple whose 7 year-old son became disabled at birth. The 7 year-old cannot speak and has no control over his limbs due to a medical malpractice birth injury. During the delivery, there was a forty-five minute delay during the unplanned C-section while waiting for an operating room. During that time, the son was deprived of an adequate amount of oxygen. He is now a first grader and has normal intelligence. The money will be used for his continued medical care.

Click here for the full article.

A jury verdict of $1.03 million awarded to a 10-year old girl in a birth injury lawsuit in 2006 was upheld last week by the Illinois First District Appellate Court. Attorney Jeffrey E. Martin of Chicago-based injury law firm Levin & Perconti, was able to give his 10-year old client good news: she will receive the medical care she needs to regain function in her right arm and shoulder.

In July 2006, a Cook County jury found that the defendant obstetrician failed to use appropriate maneuvers in delivering the child, permanently damaging the nerves in her right brachial plexus, and finding for the Illinois plaintiff in the medical malpractice lawsuit.

On appeal, the defendants argued that the trail court improperly barred the testimony of a defense expert. The Illinois appellate court disagreed, finding that the defense expert’s methodology, using a computer-based mathematical model to evaluate the delivery, did not meet the requirements of Frye v. United States, the standard required of testifying experts. The Illinois court further held that the expert’s testimony was cumulative, or the same as, another expert testifying for the defense. Thus, the Illinois appellate court decided, the trial court’s barring of the defense expert was not a ground for reversal.

Click here for the press release
Click here for the opinion of the Appellate Court of Illinois First Judicial District

The mother of the son who suffered serious brain damage after child birth spoke recently after a jury awarded her family $13.5 million in a birth injury medical malpractice lawsuit. The mother had done some research and found out the treatment for cerebral palsy for her son is expensive. If the family receives the $13.5 million that the jury awarded, they will be able to afford the treatment. The medical center is appealing and it will probably be another two years before the family receives any money. The mother thanked the jury and said “They changed my son’s life for the best, and I will never forget them for it – never.”

For the full article.

A medical malpractice lawsuit involving a botched delivery resulting in brain damage to the newborn has been brought in front of a Cook County, Illinois judge. This lawsuit is significant in the state of Illinois. The baby's attorney is claiming that the caps placed on medical malpractice lawsuits for pain and suffering ($500,000 for doctors, $1,000,000 for hospitals) are not sufficient in a case such as this one. The law imposing caps on pain and suffering awards was signed into law two years ago. The law was in response to increasing medical malpractice insurance rates for doctors. Although the solution was based on the caps, insurance rates have been stabilizing or falling even though most cases affected by the law have not yet reached a verdict or settlement. This case will face a long appeals process regardless of the ruling in the Cook County court. The baby's lawyers will aim to prove the unconstitutionality of this law by proving that in an instance like this, when a child is unnecessarily and permanently brain damaged due to a preventable medical mistake, the caps do not offer fair compensation.

Click here for the full article

A jury returned a $13.5 million medical malpractice lawsuit verdict last week against a medical center in a case involving a birth injury where the newborn boy suffered serious brain damage. The doctors mishandled the birth and caused cerebral palsy and other problems. The son, age 4 now, still cannot walk, use his arms, or speak. He appears to have normal intelligence and the family hopes he can learn to communicate via a special computer.

For the full article.

In Tampa, Florida yesterday a jury awarded $21 million to a couple whose son was born with severe birth defects. The parents claimed that a doctor at the University of South Florida misdiagnosed a severe birth defect, Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, which is the inability to correctly produce or synthesize cholesterol. This misdiagnosis led the couple to have a second child with similar problems. The award of $21 million will be used to provide the constant care the now 2-year old child will need for the rest of his life as a result of his birth defect.

However, due to Florida’s $200,000 cap on lawsuits against government agencies, these parents may never be able to collect the award and provide the care their son needs. This is a classic example of how tort reform can arbitrarily and unfairly affect those severely injured by another’s negligence. A jury is often a representative group called upon to speak for the community. In this case, the jury determined that because of a doctor’s negligence, $21 million was an appropriate amount that would enable the couple to care for their severely handicapped child for the rest of his life. Instead, because the Florida legislature has imposed an arbitrary cap on these types of awards, the parents stand to receive only $200,000 – barely enough to care for the child for a year.

The attorney for the parents plans to petition the legislature to allow the award of damages.

Click here for the article

A recent report regarding medical malpractice in Pennsylvania, focusing on surgical errors, was recently released by the Patient Safety Authority. 175 errors were made in the state during the past two and a half years, not including 253 close calls. These errors can lead to serious physical and financial strain, or even wrongful death. "Wrong-site" surgeries are a persistent problem and are clearly avoidable. Pennsylvania is a leader in public accountability for medical and surgical errors. In an effort to reduce the costs of health care, the Governor proposed that the state should cease to pay for care involving hospital-acquired infections, wrong-site surgeries, and other instances of medical malpractice. It is also the only state that requires hospitals to report near-misses.

The report cited wrong-site surgeries including the removal of a patient's healthy thyroid and incorrect cancer diagnosis as the result of a laboratory mix-up, an incorrect incision on the wrong side of a brain injury patient's head, and a surgeon inserting a needle into a patient's right knee when the surgery was planned for the other leg. In 83 reported cases of wrong-site surgeries in the state, the procedure was completed before the mistake was detected.

Click here for the full article

A recent study suggests that a common pre-term labor drug, magnesium sulfate, is more likely to cause serious side effects compared to other pre-term labor drugs, such as nifedipine. Magnesium sulfate is the more commonly prescribed drug out of industry custom, even though both drugs achieve the same benefits. The study indicated that magnesium sulfate caused side effects including shortness of breath and fluid build-up in the lungs. In addition, the study noted a trend that mothers who received magnesium sulfate were more likely to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit than mothers receiving the alternative.

Click here for the full article.

The parents of a child with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy is suing the hospital for medical malpractice. The birth injury lawsuit alleges that the hospital failed to properly monitor for signs of fetal distress during delivery. Doctors had given the mother pitocin to induce labor. During delivery, fetal heatrate dropped into the 100s, a dangerously low level, for 80 seconds. The hospital continued to administer pitocin for the next hour and a half. According to the medical malpractice suit, the baby was born "blue, not breathing, had no heartbeat, and had a scalp hematoma with a laceration." Because of the lack of oxygen to the brain during delivery, the child now suffers from cerebral palsy.

Click here for the full article.

An Illinois law firm recently settled a $9 million personal injury lawsuit against a Chicago medical provider for a child who suffers from a permanent brain injury as a result of medical malpractice during delivery. The birth injury was sustained after a 7-11 minute delay in delivering the child by a necessary emergent c-section.

The Illinois appellate court recently vacated a ruling that would have dismissed a personal injury claim. The plaintiffs alleged medical malpractice against both a hospital and a physician, Dr. Richard Sandore. The plaintiff's wife was experiencing difficulty with her pregnancy and was brought to the hospital by ambulance. She requested that she be taken to a specific hospital, but the urgency of her condition required that paramedics instead take her to the nearest one. Despite this urgency, the plaintiff was not seen by a gynecologist for one and a half hours after she had been admitted. Even then, although Sandore decided that a c-section was needed, the baby was not born for another hour after that. As a result of these delays, the baby was born with severe neurological damage.

Continue reading "Plaintiffs can sue doctor even after settling with hospital" »

Victims of medical malpractice are mobilizing to help prevent medical errors and promote patient safety. Sorrel King created the Josie King Foundation to fund safety initiatives at hospitals in honor of her 18-month-old daughter who died after a series of medical mistakes. She also donated some of the financial settlement to the hospital where the errors occurred in order to start a children’s safety program. King launched a new web site, josieking.org, with advice and information for patients and the medical community on how to increase patient safety and what to do if medical errors do occur.

Continue reading "Patients and families affected by medical errors organize a grass-roots movement" »

A Chicago family was awarded $14 million in a recent birth injury settlement. A boy suffered a severe brain injury during birth as a result of medical malpractice and negligence. The hospital staff members confused his heart rate and his mother’s pulse, and the baby was born not breathing. The emergency staff was not prepared for resuscitation as a result of the monitoring error. The obstetrician and nurse did not realize that the baby was in fetal distress and the seven minute lapse without oxygen resulted in cerebral palsy, leaving his arms and legs paralyzed. The judge approved the settlement, allowing the family to be able to provide for the boy for the rest of his life.

Click here for the Chicago Tribune article.

A recent HealthGrades study revelaed that 248,000 patient deaths over a three-year period were preventable, and mistakes multiply during the night shift. Every type of patient is at danger during the night.

Studies have shown that babies born at night are 16% more likely to die than babies born during the day. Patients going into cardiac arrest at night were also more likely to die. Pediatric patients admitted at night are more likely to die within two days. The risks appear even more serious when birth injuries and pediatric injuries also occur preventably. Medication administration errors also multiply at night. Weekends are also dangerous for patients.

Because workers with seniority get priority shifts, night time staffers are not only fewer, but less experienced. Night staffing issues are not limited to doctors and nurses; mental health, social services, directors, and administrators are also understaffed on the night shift. Not only are night workers less experienced, they also suffer from fatigue- a major contributor to night shift errors.

Beware of the danger that medical errors are more frequently made at night. Click here to read the full article, including a personal account of a preventable death occuring during the night shift.

An obstetrician was found liable in a medical malpractice lawsuit recently and was ordered by a city jury to pay $8.1 million to the parents of a baby boy he delivered in 2003. The jury found the doctor was responsible for the brain damage suffered by an infant during a difficult delivery. The damages would be limited to just over $2.1 million under Maryland law putting a cap on awards for pain and suffering. The victim baby died a year later from a respiratory illness related to his permanent brain damage caused by the medical malpractice.

For the full article.

A hospital was ordered to pay $30 million to a former Cape Coral couple whose son suffered a lifelong crippling brain injury because of the hospital’s negligence. The medical malpractice lawsuit was filed in 1999, alleging that the hospital ignored its own policies during their son’s birth. The jury found that a labor nurse ignored warning signs that the mother was experiencing strong contractions that led to a decrease in blood flow to the victim’s brain. Further, the nurse also ignored the hospital’s policies for births regarding protection of a patient while administering Pitocin.

For the full article.

Learn innovative ways to overcome defense arguments and develop themes for your birth injury cases at AAJ’s Litigating Catastrophically Injured Infant Cases seminar. The seminar will be at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa in Tucson, AZ from February 2-3, 2007.

For more information, call 800-622-1791 x. 612 or visit the website.

As part of a continuing investigation of improperly sealed court records and medical malpractice lawsuits, the Times recently exposed a birth injury shoulder dystocia lawsuit and the details that had been hidden from everyone, including the state.

The birth injury lawsuit began in 2001. In 1999, the woman underwent a difficult delivery and when the doctor saw that there were complications, he told the midwives to contrinue to do what they were doing. The child wound up with brain damage, spastic quadriplegia, and a seizure disorder. The family sued the doctor and health group for medical malpractice, stating that they should have recognized the risk factors for shoulder dystocia.

Continue reading "Times exposes improperly sealed medical malpractice lawsuits" »

A jury awarded more than $15 million to a woman whose son was born in 2001 with birth injuries, including cerebral palsy. Jurors in the medical malpractice lawsuit determined that the doctor and staff failed to react to signs that the woman and her baby were in distress during the birth.

For the full article.

A 6 year-old boy who went blind shortly after he was born at a hospital has been awarded $20 million. A jury last month concluded that the hospital and the physician in charge of the newborn unit were negligent. The birth injury verdict is considered among the largest ever awarded by a suburban Philadelphia jury in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

For the full article.

Last month, a medical malpractice lawsuit that involved an infant who suffered birth injuries due to a traumatic and delayed delivery settled for $8 million. The monetary award will be used by his parents to help mitigate the overwhelming medical counts that will amass throughout the victim’s life. At birth, the resident who measured the baby’s heart rate stated that she could see the baby’s head, which would indicate that the baby should be delivered through a C-section. The physician, however, dismissed the resident’s suggestion and insisted upon delivering the baby “naturally.” Due to the medical malpractice, the child suffered birth injuries including facial abrasions and neurological damage.

For the full article.

A lawsuit filed last week alleges that the Illinois medical malpractice cap on non-economic damages is unconstitutional. The suit involves a Chicago baby who was born with birth injuries caused by a botched labor and delivery. In 2005, the Illinois legislature passed a cap on non-economic damages in Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits rather than leaving that determination up to a jury. Currently, non-economic damages in Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits are limited to $500,000 against individual doctors and $1 million against hospitals.

For the full article.

ATLA will be hosting a seminar on litigating catastrophically injured infant cases from February 2-3, 2007. The program will provide an in-depth understanding of the medical issues involved and a practical approach to proving negligence and obtaining damages in birth injury medical malpractice lawsuits.

To register for the Seminar.

One state has a birth-injury program that provides lifetime medical care beyond what is paid by insurance or other government programs if the infant’s family agrees to give up their right to a medical malpractice lawsuit. However, the program may be halted because of the mounting costs for the 100 children who are currently enrolled in the program. The high cost of the program which was supposed to ease the hospital’s burdens from medical malpractice lawsuits really demonstrates that medical malpractice birth injuries are a compounding problem. Additionally, perhaps now the government will see that the amount of money awarded in birth injury medical malpractice lawsuits needs to be large to address the lifetime of medical treatment the victims will require.

For the full article.

The victim is almost two years old and each passing week continues to be another milestone in his life. The victim’s mother said that the doctors initially said he would live two days, then two weeks, then two months. When the child was born, his doctor committed medical malpractice by giving him carbon dioxide instead of oxygen. This malpractice permanently damaged the child’s brain. He cannot speak, move, eat, or even breathe on his own due to the birth injury. Taking care of him costs $450,000 a year. For those costs, a federal judge awarded the child’s family $16.5 million – the largest damage verdict ever ruled in Hawaii for a single person.

The Medical Center has a long history of medical malpractice. Between January 1995 and July 2005, there were 331 malpractice claims against the Center. Although the Medical Center has accepted responsibility, no disciplinary action has been taken against the Center.

For the full article.

Levin & Perconti has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Evanston Northwestern Healthcare in Chicago, Illinois alleging the negligent delivery of a baby. The lawsuit alleges that during the birth, the doctors failed to perform a sonogram which would have revealed that the baby was macrosomic, or of higher fetal weight than anticipated. As a result, the doctors failed to recommend a Caesarean section delivery which would have been appropriate given the mother’s pre-existing history of gestational diabetes and the baby’s size.

Instead, the baby developed a condition called shoulder dystocia which results when one or both of the shoulders do not properly enter the pelvis during delivery. The baby suffered injury to her left brachial plexus during the delivery process, resulting in her having Erb's palsy and left arm paralysis. The doctors failed to utilize appropriate disimpaction maneuvers which would have freed the trapped shoulder.

On behalf of a mother whose child suffered brain damage during labor and delivery, Levin & Perconti filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Lutheran General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. The lawsuit alleges that the nursing staff failed to inform the mother of prolonged labor and of the baby’s failure to descend after observing fetal bradycardia. Fetal bradycardia occurs when a fetus’ heart rate drops during the birthing process.

The suit also alleges that the physicians failed to timely perform the delivery of the baby after she failed to progress during the prolonged second stage of labor. Because of the negligent acts of the personnel at Lutheran General, the baby suffered hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, a form of brain damage.

A third infant has died after having been given an adult dosage of blood thinner medication heparin at Methodist Hospital. The mistake was made when a pharmacy technician accidentally stored adult doses in the neonatal unit's drug cabinet. Six infants were affected by the error, two had died previously and three others are in critical condition.

The families have retained a lawyer and will likely file a medical malpractice lawsuit.

For the full article.

A Cook County, Illinois jury on July 6, 2006 awarded a verdict in the amount of $1,030,767.47 to a nine-year-old girl who suffered permanent injury to the brachial plexus nerves in her right shoulder in a medical malpractice case. The trial was presided over by the Honorable Patricia Banks and the verdict rendered after 7 hours of deliberations over the course of two days. Once it was established that the baby’s right shoulder had become stuck behind the mother’s pubic bone during her delivery in April 1997, a condition called shoulder dystocia, the safest and simplest procedure was to place the mother into the McRoberts maneuver (which requires two assistants to raise the mother’s knees to her chest) and for a nurse to apply steady pressure to the area above the mother’s pubic bone (suprapubic pressure) while the obstetrician applies gentle downward pressure to the baby’s head. The jury found that during the birth of the child, the defendant obstetrician failed to use appropriate maneuvers and applied excessive force in his attempt to free the child’s right shoulder from behind her mother’s pubic bone.

Continue reading "Cook County Jury Awards $1.03 Million in Birth Trauma Medical Malpractice Case" »