Following a two-week trial in Pennsylvania, a Lehigh County jury awarded $55 million to a family whose child experienced severe brain damage and impairment after physicians allegedly failed to perform a Caesarean section in a timely manner.
Court documents reveal that the child’s parents alleged St. Luke’s Hospital committed medical negligence when physicians and staff ignored signs that the child was losing a substantial amount of oxygen during delivery. The lawsuit also claims that treating physicians should have known that the child was too large for the mother to deliver. The child suffered additional oxygen loss when he became stuck during the vaginal delivery. Vacuum extraction was needed to remove the newborn.
The hospital denied allegations of negligence and issued a statement claiming that the care provided was appropriate. During the trial, nationally respected medical experts supplied testimony that supported St. Luke’s hospital. Despite this testimony, the jury issued a verdict in favor of the parents and their child, awarding a substantial $55 million verdict only days after a $42.9 million verdict was awarded in a separate birth injury case involving another Pennsylvania hospital. The $55 million award is the largest medical malpractice verdict in the county in the past two decades.
Medical malpractice cases are never an easy experience. When they involve newborns, the emotional stakes can be extreme. At The Law Offices of Dr. Michael M. Wilson M.D., J.D. & Associates, our team of Washington, DC birth injury attorneys is here to support and guide families through the legal process needed to obtain justice and complete compensation. To learn more about your case and how our legal team can be of assistance, complete a free case evaluation form or call (202) 654-2889 for a FREE consultation.
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Dr. Michael M. Wilson is an attorney and a physician who earned his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his legal and medical degrees from Georgetown University. He has focused in the area of medical malpractice for more than three decades and secured more than $100 million in settlements and verdicts on behalf of clients throughout the country. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and New York as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is listed in America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators.
