Chicago Birth Injury Lawyer Blog

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 $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 settlement totaling $77,418,670 was recently reached with St. John’s Riverside Hospital for the family of a three-year-old boy who developed cerebral palsy due to unnecessary delays during birth. The medical malpractice lawsuit alleged that the hospital, and the obstetrician/genecologist who delivered the baby, failed to perform an emergency c-section despite the presence of signs that indicated that the baby was suffering from oxygen deprivation. Instead, the doctor opted for a vaginal delivery, which was alleged to have been initiated almost an hour later.

Click on the following link for more information about this $77 Million cerebral palsy settlement.

Jacksonville Naval Hospital reached a $500,000 settlement yesterday with a family whose son died after a birth injury. Kendra Alcorn gave birth to twins in 2005; the first birth went well, but the second baby suffered from lack of oxygen. Lack of oxygen is a serious birth injury and it caused the child to go blind and have cerebral palsy. The child has since passed away from the birth injury. To read the entire article click here on “Birth Injury Case Settled”

In December of 2000, a woman’s uterus burst during labor caused a birth injury. The mother’s body no longer could provide oxygen for the child, who went 18-20 minutes without oxygen. The birth injury caused permanent brain damage. There was a $31 million dollar verdict for the birth injury when the case was brought to court, the most in Ohio history, but they have settled out of court for what is believed to be less money. For more information on “Record Settlement in Birth Injury Case” click here.

The family of a brain damaged boy was awarded $12 Million dollars for a birth injury the child suffered. The case took place in Illinois and was against St. Anthony Medical Center. The child suffers from spastic quadriparesis because of the brain injury. The birth injury was a result of a failure to recognize that the child was positioned for a breech delivery; and as a result the child did not receive sufficient oxygen which caused the brain injury. The Hospital did not perform a proper vaginal exam, placed a fetal scalp electrode in the wrong spot and this led to the placenta rupturing during labor and a result the child suffered a birth injury. To read the entire article click here on “birth injury”

Before birth, a baby’s lungs are filled with fluid and very little oxygen flows through them. Instead, it receives oxygen through the placenta and umbilical cord. When an infant is born, a burst of oxygen-rich blood is delivered to him or her by a pulsation of the placenta and umbilical cord until its lungs are working and supplying oxygen on their own. This surge of blood is necessary in order for the newborn’s lungs to adequately expand and supply the brain with the oxygen it needs. Without it, the baby’s lungs fail to function adequately, causing his or her blood pressure to drop. This in turn can lead to oxygen deprivation and result in lung and brain damage.

In as little as 5 minutes after birth, the umbilical cord naturally begins to clamp, halting this blood flow. The common practice of hospitals, however, is to immediately place a clamp on the cord, usually within 1 minute, and often within 30 seconds, following the baby’s birth. This deprives the baby of a continuous source of oxygen until the lungs begin functioning properly. In addition to injuring the baby’s lungs, this lack of oxygen can cause serious brain damage, leading to birth injuries such as cerebral palsy, autism, learning disorders and mental deficiency.

Click here for information about a study into the dangers of premature cord clamping and for more information about umbilical cord clamping birth injuries.

When it comes to babies who are deprived of oxygen during birth, every second counts. Delays in the performance of c-sections can cause serious injuries to oxygen-deprived babies, such as brain damage and cerebral palsy. Hospitals and doctors can significantly reduce the length of c-section delays, however, by implementing quality improvement programs by doctors and hospitals, according to a new study published in this month’s issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In particular, the study found that, after 2 years of following such a program, the number of emergency c-sections that were delayed for over 30 minutes was reduced by up to 30% in some situations. These findings suggest that many devastating birth injuries could be prevented if hospitals and doctors simply implemented programs to address the delays.

Click the following link for more information about the quality improvement program study and its findings.

Babies who are deprived of oxygen for any significant period of time during birth have a very high risk of suffering permanent brain damage. This risk of birth injury has shown to be reduced, however, by a new therapy that is pretty cool, literally. The therapy, called induced hypothermia, involves placing an infant on a cooling blanket within 6 hours of its birth for a period of 3 days, bringing its temperature down from the normal 98.6 degrees to about 92 degrees. Research shows that, while the therapy may not completely prevent brain damage, babies suffering from hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), or birth hypoxia and asphyxia, that receive the treatment have a greater chance of survival and the extent of their brain damage from oxygen deprivation is reduced.

Read more about this new cooling therapy here.

Scientists at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., have developed two compounds that may be effective in protecting against cerebral palsy. The findings from their experiments with rabbits suggest that the compounds may have prevented the development of the disorder, which would have otherwise developed, following a lack of oxygen to the fetus. Notably, all of the fetuses born to mother rabbits that were treated with the compounds survived, whereas, over half of those without treatment died. Perhaps most impressive is that 83% of the animals treated with one of the compounds were born without any characteristics of cerebral palsy at all. More testing is necessary before they can conclude that the compounds will work to prevent birth injuries in humans, but these findings bring hope that infants subjected to birth hypoxia, such as those who suffer umbilical cord compression during labor, need not suffer permanent brain damage.

Read more about this exciting cerebral palsy prevention breakthrough in an article published by US News & World Report.

There are serious risks, both to the mother and her baby, when having a “natural birth” after having delivered an earlier child by c-section. The procedure, known as vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC, for short), has been shown to cause serious injuries. For instance, there is a risk of the mother suffering a uterine rupture, which can be fatal to both her and her baby. There is also a chance that the VBAC will cause the baby to suffer oxygen deprivation (or birth hypoxia), leading to brain damage and cerebral palsy. These risks are compounded by doctors’ errors such as hesitation to perform the delivery or delaying a c-section. Recognizing that the decision to proceed with a VBAC may cause these birth injuries, and potentially be grounds for pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit, many doctors are now refusing to perform them, opting instead for another c-section delivery.

Read more about the risks of VBACS, and the difficulties of finding doctors willing to perform them, in an article by Time Magazine.

Last Friday, a jury in a medical malpractice trial awarded $4.4 million to the parents of a child who suffered a severe brain injury at birth. Three days before her scheduled induction, the mother went to the hospital with nausea and vomiting. A fetal heart monitor showed that the baby was in dire stress and in need of an emergency c-section but a nurse misread the data. This delay lead to prolonged oxygen deprivation, causing her daughter to suffer severe brain damage and later develop cerebral palsy. She died a year ago, at the age of less than 4 and a half, of complications from the disorder.

Read more about this birth injury trial here.

The umbilical cord delivers oxygen-rich blood to the fetus. During labor, the cord can become stretched or compressed, interrupting this vital flow. Umbilical cord compression is a relatively common condition, occurring about once every ten deliveries, and often transpires when the cord becomes caught between the baby’s head and the mother’s pelvic bone or when it becomes wrapped around the baby’s neck. Once this happens, the blood flow is interrupted and the level of oxygen that the baby receives begins to decrease. If the baby is deprived of oxygen for a significant amount of time, a condition called hypoxia, it can develop severe injuries including brain damage, cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness, or developmental delays. Fortunately, this deprivation is detectable. The diminished blood flow can cause short and sudden decreases in the baby’s heart rate, which become visible on a fetal heart rate monitor. Often times, when this is detected, simply administered oxygen to the woman to increase the amount available to the baby is sufficient. In some cases, however, if the baby’s oxygen level is extremely low or if it begins showing other signs of distress, it is necessary to deliver the baby as soon as possible and the doctor may have to perform an emergency c-section. Under these circumstances, time is essential. Mistakes and carelessness by doctors and nurses that delay the operation amount to medical malpractice and can cause permanent brain damage to the baby.

A jury awarded a child with cerebral palsy $20.5 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit that was filed as a result of mistakes that occurred at the time of the child’s birth. The case involved the June 2001 birth of a boy who has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The family alleged that the disability was caused by damage to the brain during a four hour delay in his delivery. The medical malpractice lawsuit states that after the mother arrived at the Community Medical Center she was hooked up to a fetal monitoring system which demonstrated that the baby was in distress, yet the doctor did not arrive to deliver the child for approximately two hours, and even after his arrival, attempts were made to induce labor instead of doing an emergency caesarean section. Cerebral palsy is a motor disability which is caused by brain damage that can occur before, during or immediately after birth. The family successfully argued that the doctor and hospital’s failure to do an immediate c-section resulted in a lack of oxygen to the baby’s brain, which resulted in the permanent brain damage. Cerebral palsy is a motor disability which is caused by brain damage that can occur before, during or immediately after birth. The family was able to successfully argue that the doctor and hospital’s failure to do an immediate c-section resulted in a lack of oxygen to the baby’s brain, which resulted in the permanent brain damage. The boy is now 7 years old, requires 24 hour care, is unable to use his hands, is mentally retarded, blind and functions at the level of a 9 month old. The cerebral palsy malpractice lawsuit awarded the family $2 million for past expenses incurred by the parents and $18.5 million for the child’s pain and suffering, lost earning capacity and future medical expenses. To read the full story, click here.

A jury has awarded $20.5 million in a medical malpractice suit to the family of a child with lasting medical problems caused by mistakes made at his birth. The judge stated that it was the largest award in a medical malpractice case in his 10 years on the bench. The jury found the doctor and hospital negligent in their treatment of the child's mother during the delivery.

A fetal monitoring system indicated that the baby was in distress so the hospital called the doctor but he did not show up for two hours. During this delay, the baby was deprived of oxygen. After the doctor arrived, rather than performing an emergency c-section, he decided to induce labor, which forced the baby to remain oxygen-deprived. When it finally became clear to the doctor that the baby had to be removed, it was too late. The delayed c-section was finally performed nearly four hours after the mother had arrived at the hospital, after the baby had already suffered permanent brain damage. The baby was born with cerebral palsy. He is almost completely blind, has no use of his hands, has severe mental retardation. The boy is now 7 but, because of his birth injury, he functions at the level of a 6 to 9-month old.

The family will receive $2 million health care expenses and related costs. The child was awarded $18.5 million, which he will receive upon turning 18, for lost earning capacity, pain and suffering and medical expenses. Almost all of the money will be used for his care, since he will require 24-hour care for the rest of his life.

To read the full story, click here.

A new study published in the November 1st issue of Biological Psychiatry concludes that complications during pregnancy and birth hypoxia, a shortage of oxygen to the baby’s brain which can result from delays in delivery, are associated with an increased risk for schizophrenia. The study specifically finds that people who later develop schizophrenia are more likely to have decreased levels of neuroprotective protein – brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), an indicator of fetal distress resulting from birth hypoxia. The study’s authors are hopeful that their findings, which will require further testing, may someday lead to preventative intervention and at-birth identification of individuals at high-risk of developing the condition.

For the full story, click here.

A Wisconsin jury awarded $11.4 million to the parents of a child born with Cerebral Palsy, and found a nurse and midwife at Gunderson Lutheran Medical Center negligent in the child’s delivery, causing the brain damage. The lawsuit alleged that the baby was deprived of oxygen due to a delay in his delivery and that the mother was administered the drug Pitocin in frequent and increased dosages without a physician’s order, in violation of hospital policy, which caused additional stress to the fetus and an abnormal contraction pattern.

The child suffers from Cerebral Palsy and other permanent personal injuries. He is not expected to ever walk or talk and requires a feeding tube. The parents state that, while the jury award cannot give their child a normal life, it will help them to provide the therapy, treatment, and accommodations that their son will need throughout his life.
For the full story, click here.

A jury found a hospital liable for medical malpractice and awarded $4.25 million to the family of a girl who, after a traumatic birth, was born with Cerebral Palsy and brain damage. The baby’s heart rate began to drop while the mother was lying in a hospital bed but the doctor had gone home for dinner. By the time another doctor arrived and performed an emergency Cesarean Section, the baby had been deprived of oxygen for 20 minutes.

The jury found that the hospital ignored signs of fetal distress, failed to notify a doctor in time to perform a timely emergency C-Section, and that this delay caused the child’s injuries.

The jury awarded compensation for past and future medical expenses, lost future earnings and pain and suffering.

For the full story, click here.