February 15, 2010

Jury Awards $23.2 Million in Cerebral Palsy Birth Injury Case

A jury recently found a medical clinic and hospital negligent and awarded $23.2 million to the family of Kylie Rodgers, a two-year-old victim of medical malpractice. Kylie suffers from numerous permanent conditions resulting from her traumatic birth in June of 2007, which will require treatment for the rest of her life, including spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, cortical impairment, neurological difficulties, and seizures.

Although it may sound large, verdict amounts such as this are not uncommon in birth injury cases, especially those involving a serious, permanent injury such as cerebral palsy, because the award has to pay for the lifetime of medical care that the injured babies require. In fact, $1.7 million of the verdict in this case was awarded just to pay for the healthcare expenses that Kylie already incurred in the first two years of her life.

Click the following link to read more about Kylie and this birth injury verdict.

February 2, 2010

Doctor Blamed for Erb’s Palsy Birth Injury

An obstetrician recently received a public reprimand from her state’s medical board. The reprimand states that the doctor’s negligence caused a newborn baby to suffer Erb’s Palsy. According to the report in The Mercury News, the negligent doctor tried a suction delivery, but the baby was too large for natural birth. This risky move caused the baby’s shoulder to become locked on the mother’s public bone, damaging the baby’s shoulder nerves and causing Erb’s Palsy, which left his arm and shoulder paralyzed.

Levin & Perconti have represented clients in a number of Chicago birth injury cases involving Erb’s Palsy. In 2009, John Perconti and Patricia Gifford settled a lawsuit for $1.35 million on behalf of a 9-year-old Waukegan girl who lost movement in her arm. Her doctors failed to inform the girl’s mother of her increased risk for shoulder dystocia. They also failed to perform the proper techniques during labor and delivery to disimpact the newborn's shoulder, causing her injury. To learn more about this birth injury lawsuit, read our latest newsletter.