Jury Awards Couple $58.6 Million in Birth injury Lawsuit

July 2, 2011

According to an article in last week’ Courant News, a record $58 million dollar award was given to a Connecticut family whose son had suffered serious birth injuries after doctor’ failed to act quickly after he began showing signs of distress. The family claimed that the injuries occurred because the doctor delayed performing a cesarean section. The brain-damaged boy, who is now 8 years old, has cerebral palsy and is unable to talk or walk.

The article reports that this jury award represents one of the largest sums of money ever awarded in a birth injury lawsuit. According to court reports, the family alleged that their doctor waited too long to perform a cesarean section which caused the serious birth injuries that resulted in their son’ cerebral palsy. The lawsuit alleges negligence on behalf of the doctors in failing to perform the procedure intended to relieve the upper uterine area on the birthing mother quickly enough to prevent birth injuries. As a result of this failure to act quickly enough, there was insufficient space for delivery, and the necessary cesarean section was delayed.

The suit alleged that as a result of this delay in action, the boy was born with severe cerebral palsy. He will need extensive medical care for the rest of his life. He is completely unable to walk, eat, or talk. The boy must be fed through a tube and he will be confined to a wheelchair for life. When the baby was born, he was not breathing or moving, had no color and barely had a heartbeat, according to the family’ attorney.

The jury sided with the boy and his family in this suit and determined that the doctor was negligent in his conduct. They awarded the family $58.6 million for their losses. Chicago birth injury lawyers have also achieved multi million dollar results in cases of this nature. As always, each birth injury case must be analyzed on its own unique facts and challenges.