Our client, a 6-year-old girl, sustained brain damage at birth due to medical malpractice. The child's mother had gone to the hospital on May 15, 2001. She was admitted and placed on a fetal monitor. Over the course of three days, the monitor showed signs of fetal distress and abrupted placenta. Doctors initially scheduled the patient for a Cesarean section, but for reasons no one could explain, cancelled it. On the third day at the hospital, a Cesarean section was finally performed. The infant was born with poor response and breathing and spent three weeks in the ICU. The child was eventually diagnosed with neurological damage. The child is now 6-years-old, walks with braces, cannot hear without using a hearing aide and has a very limited vocabulary. The settlement money will pay $37 million over the course of the child's life.
In this case, the injured baby's mother claimed that the delivering physician failed to take measures to prevent severe injury. Instead, when the baby wouldn't arrive, the doctor applied excessive traction and twisted the baby's head, which damaged the nerves leading from the spinal cord to the baby's arm. Nerve graft surgery, using a nerve from the baby's leg to repair the damaged nerves, resulted in partial, although limited, recovery of function. The settlement is expected to pay the child millions over the course of his life.
The physician who delivered the baby failed to take precautions to protect the nerves leading to the baby's arm. The attending physician should have recognized that the baby was too large to be delivered vaginally. Due to the size of the baby, the baby's shoulder lodged behind the mother's pubic bone during delivery. The mother claimed that the doctor applied excessive traction to the baby's head, which damaged the nerves leading to her baby's arm. After birth, the mother located a physician who performed surgery to attempt to repair the damaged nerves. This operation resulted in partial improvement of function, but the child will suffer permanent, limited function of her arm. The settlement is expected to pay the child millions over the course of her life.
Our client was visiting New York from California when her cab was involved in a minor accident with a second cab. After her cab had been stopped in the street, a bus then struck her vehicle from the rear. Our client was treated in the emergency room and then released. She returned to California, where she continued to undergo treatment and eventually was diagnosed with spinal injury, which was impinging on her spinal cord. Insurance companies offered a total of $35,000 during trial. The jury verdict was sustained on appeal, and the $35,000 was paid, with interest, to the client.
Our client, a 42-year-old taxi driver making $17,000.00 per year, died during a procedure in the hospital. Our client went into the hospital complaining of chest pains. A cardiac catheterization procedure was performed. During the procedure doctors mistakenly ruptured his aorta, causing him to bleed to death. Our client is survived by a wife and daughter.
Our client, a baby, sustained a damaged nerve due to medical malpractice during delivery. Doctors at the hospital did not realize that the baby would be large and when the baby was being delivered the doctors could not get the baby out without pulling on its arm and shoulder. The child has very limited use of her arm.