Chicago Birth Injury Lawyer Blog

According to the Orland Sentinel, a mother who sued EVAC for injuries her son received during a premature birth has reached a settlement for $1.4 million with EVAC ambulance services. Margarita Chess was six months pregnant when she gave birth to her son, Addison, inside an ambulance owned and operated by EVAC. Addison was born with cerebral palsy and suffered brain damage.

Chess first arrived at the Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach, where a doctor decided to transfer her to Halifax medical Center in Daytona because Bert Fish Medical Center was not equipped to handle her prematurely born son. Halifax Medical Center did not accept the transfer, citing that they lacked specialists who could handle premature births.
At the trial EVAC argued that paramedics could not refuse the emergency-room doctor's order. The jury found EVAC negligent for accepting transport and for the care it provided. Originally Chess brought suit against both the hospitals and doctors but settlement was reached with EVAC for a total of $1.4 million.

The Illinois birth injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti have years of experience representing clients who have suffered birth injuries, including those resulting in Cerebral Palsy. If you believe that your child has suffered a birth injury or brain injury as a result of the negligence of medical personnel, please contract our Chicago birth injury lawyers to discuss your case.

A jury recently awarded over $23 million to 5-year-old boy and his mother in a birth malpractice trial in Milwaukee that lasted over two weeks. The jury found the woman’s doctor negligent for the birth injury her son sustained during delivery in 2005. According to a report in the Journal Sentinel, the boy suffers from cerebral palsy as a result of the brain damage that he sustained during his delivery. The jury found the doctor negligent for failing to perform a C-section despite the woman’s prolonged labor and signs of distress. Instead of a C-section, the doctor ordered a medical resident to deliver the baby with forceps.

Most likely, the child’s brain damage was the result of hypoxia, or lack of oxygen. When complications arise during the labor and delivery process, it can cause a newborn’s oxygen supply to be cut off. When a child goes without sufficient oxygen for an extended period of time, this can lead to brain damage which can cause conditions like cerebral palsy. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke defines cerebral palsy as term used to describe a number of neurological disorders that affect one’s movement and coordination. The effects of cerebral palsy can range in severity, but in many instances sufferers will have to undergo lifelong medical care and treatments. In the above example, the damages will help to compensate for future medical costs as well as the loss of future potential income and pain and suffering.

To learn more about the recent birth injury verdict, follow the hyperlink.

A jury has awarded the family of a 12-year-old boy $18.5 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit against a hospital and obstetrician, according to The Star-Ledger. An emergency cesarean section became necessary for his birth back in 1998, but it was unnecessarily delayed, causing brain damage and the development of cerebral palsy. Experts testified at trial that, if the procedure would have been performed just eight minutes sooner, he would not have developed the condition.

When a fetus begins showing signs of distress, such as an irregular heartbeat, it may mean that it is not getting enough oxygen. If so, it becomes critical to deliver the baby as soon as possible, usually by performing an emergency c-section. Delays in the performance of these emergency c-sections can cause serious, permanent injuries to oxygen-deprived babies, such as brain damage and cerebral palsy. Many of these delays are not only avoidable, but caused by the negligence of doctors and hospitals.

If you believe that your child suffered a birth injury as a result of a healthcare provider’s negligence, please contact us to discuss your case. Our Illinois birth injury lawyers are here to help.

The Daily Herald reports that a medical malpractice lawsuit resulted in a $29.1 million verdict for a boy suffering the effects of a severe birth injury. Medical malpractice occurring during the boy’s delivery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago resulted in the child’s Chicago birth injury and brain damage. The boy is now six years old and suffers from quadriplegia and Cerebral Palsy, disorders that resulted from brain injury during his birth. NBC Chicago explains that a doctor ignored an infection in the mother prior to birth, and failure to treat the infection resulted in the child being born with Cerebral Palsy. As a result of the birth injury, the boy cannot walk, talk, or eat through his mouth.

Cerebral Palsy Information explains that Cerebral Palsy is often caused by brain injury either during pregnancy, during birth or shortly after birth. Several infections during a mother’s pregnancy can severely damage a fetus’ nervous system and result in Cerebral Palsy. Quadriplegia is a form of Cerebral Palsy that affects a child’s arms and legs and causes stiff, permanently contracted muscles.

4MyChild notes that about ten to twenty percent of children with Cerebral Palsy acquired it after birth, while many more children developed it during pregnancy or at birth. Two aspects of long labor send signals to doctors that brain damage can result in a birth injury to a baby. If a baby becomes stuck in the mother’s birth canal without oxygen or a doctor does not deliver the baby within 24 hours of the mother’s water breaking, the baby is at a significantly increased risk for a birth injury. Furthermore, doctors need to pay attention to whether the mother develops a fever during pregnancy because this too can lead to brain damage.

As 4My Child explains, quick action is the key to giving birth to a healthy baby instead of one with serious birth injury consequences like Cerebral Palsy. No child should have to suffer the effects of birth injuries that occurred because of medical malpractice. When medical malpractice does occur, however, and a child suffers the life long consequences of a doctor’s negligence, our Illinois birth injury lawyers are here to help.

According to a press release on Emailwire.com, a family was awarded over $38 million by a jury in a birth injury lawsuit. The press release states that a newborn suffered severe birth injuries after medical practitioners failed to execute a cesarean in a timely manner. As a result of this medical negligence, the newborn sustained an irreversible brain injury. Follow the link to read more about this birth injury verdict.

When medical providers fail to perform c-sections and other interventions during childbirth, in a timely manner, they risk causing serious birth injuries such as birth hypoxia and cerebral palsy. Fetal distress is detectable when an infant’s heart rate is abnormal. If a labor and delivery team suspects fetal distress, they should immediately perform interventions to prevent serious injury. When providers fail to do so, a baby can suffer lifelong injuries or death.

Awards for birth injury cases are often high because they take into consideration both economic and non-economic damages. In most instances, the verdict or settlement will be determined by calculating proven damages, such as past and future medical expenses and loss of potential earnings. They also take into account pain and suffering and loss of normal life, or disability and disfigurement damages. The Chicago birth injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti have received compensation for families in a number of birth injury cases, including a $6.71 million Cook County birth injury verdict for a child who suffered a serious brachial plexus injury. If you believe that your child has suffered a birth injury as a result of a medical provider’s negligence, please contact us to discuss your potential claim.

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.

A $25 million jury verdict was recently awarded in a Cook County medical malpractice trial to a Chicago boy who suffers from cerebral palsy resulting from his botched birth eight years ago. Payton White was deprived of oxygen during his birth at Northwestern Memorial Hospital back in August of 2001. This caused severe brain damage which in turn led to him developing cerebral palsy. The verdict ensures that Payton will receive the extensive care and treatment that he is likely to require throughout his life.

Click on the following link for more information about this Cook County cerebral palsy verdict.

A family was awarded nearly $900,000 in a birth injury lawsuit against a hospital and two doctors. The family accused the doctors and hospital of negligence in the handling of the woman’s labor and delivery, which caused a permanent shoulder injury to their son. The jury awarded the family $893,684 after the seven-day trial including $110,000 for future loss of earning capacity. The birth injury lawsuit alleged that the doctors should have known that the baby would likely weigh more than 10 pounds at delivery. As a result of this inaction, the baby’s shoulder got stuck behind his mother’s pubic bone after his head was delivered. This prevented his body from easily following his head during delivery. The birth complication caused injury to the nerves in the baby’s shoulder when his nerves were stretched. He has suffered permanent injuries, pain and suffering, disability and expenses as a result of the limited strength, dexterity and motion in his shoulder. To read more about the birth injury trial, please click the link.

A jury recently awarded $43 million to a 25-year-old woman who suffers from cerebral palsy as a result of a hospital’s negligence during birth. According to an article on WTEN New 10’s website, the hospital staff failed to properly resuscitate the newborn during delivery. This critical medical error caused the plaintiff to suffer cerebral palsy, a lifelong disorder that affects movement. The family settled out of court 19 year ago with the doctor who performed the delivery; however the case against the hospital has been active since 1991. To read the full coverage of this birth injury verdict, click on the link.

The first Paxil lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline over alleged birth defects caused by the antidepressant is scheduled for trial to begin today in Philadelphia. This is one of approximately 600 similar claims involving heart defects and other injuries suffered by babies born to woman who used Paxil. The birth injury lawsuit claims that the use of Paxil resulted in life-threatening heart defects in her three-year-old son. Paxil is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor prescribed to treat depression. It is one of the most common drugs prescribed in the Untied States. The plaintiffs claimed that GlaxoSmithKline knew about the potential for Paxil to cause birth defects, but hid data and failed to warn users of the potential birth defect side effects. The FDA released an alert in 2005 that studies showed that the drug could increase the risk of heart defects in infants when taken during the first three months of pregnancy. It then required the company to update Paxil label warnings to include the risk of birth defects. The company says there is no conclusive evidence that Paxil causes birth defects, and intend to argue that the injury suffered by the plaintiff’s son was not caused by the use of Paxil. The plaintiff’s son was born with holes in his heart that had to be addressed with multiple surgeries before he was six months old, which the birth defect lawsuit says is the result of the Paxil. To read more about the birth injury lawsuit, please click the link.