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The Pennsylvania medical center that allegedly caused a severe birth injury to a little boy has been forced to pay a $21 million compensation package to the boy and his mother. The boy developed cerebral palsy as a direct result of the doctor’s mismanagement of his birthing process.
As a lifelong condition, the lawsuit money will provide for quality care throughout the boy’s life. In Manhattan and Nassau County, hospitals and doctors must have insurance for these kinds of tragedies.
In the lawsuit, the boy’s mother alleged that the Erie, Pennsylvania, Hamot Medical Center’s doctors acted improperly during the birth of her son in November of 2006. While in the hospital and ready to give birth, the mother and son’s vital signs were not properly monitored by the nursing staff on hand. According to a New York Birth Injury Attorney, the boy then suffered lack of oxygen and shifted into the breach position. The new position of the fetus forced the doctor and midwife to perform an emergency C-section.
While the emergency surgery delivered a live baby, action was not taken early enough to prevent him from developing cerebral palsy. Even today, nearly five years later, he still depends on nursing care, is fed through a tube, and cannot speak intelligibly.
The jury found the doctors at the medical center to be 100 percent negligent for the birth injury by not reacting appropriately once there were signs of distress.
A New York Birth Injury Lawyer quotes the family’s legal team as saying “all defendants completely failed to timely recognize and react to non-reassuring signs.”
This particular award ($21,573,993.10) is nearly five times the amount of the previously largest jury award in a civil case in Erie County.
More than $19 million of the lawsuit award is intended for the boy’s future medical expenses, and the remaining $1.9 million is supposed to be used to cover previous medical expenses and lost earning capacity.
When medical teams are negligent, severe injuries can easily occur. The most severe of these end a life or drastically reduce life expectancy or quality of life.
If you or a loved one has suffered a birth injury and is now living with cerebral palsy, contact a New York Birth Injury Attorney if you have questions about whether the hospital may have failed to react properly. The Office of Stephen Bilkis and Associates can offer you support and guidance as well as a free consultation when you contact us at 1-800-NY-NY-LAW. We have offices in N York City, including Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and The Bronx and in Nassau County, Suffolk County and Westchester County.