Personal Injury Law

Mother Collects $5.5 Million for Son?s Birth Ordeal

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

A west Chicago suburban woman whose son was born with severe brain damage has agreed to a $5.5 million settlement with the doctors and hospital after they caused a lifetime of problems for her son. The mother of the boy agreed to a settlement with the hospital in Melrose Park, Illinois and the two doctors. After the mother was admitted to the hospital and given a drug to induce contractions, her baby?s heart rate started to drop. She argues that an obstetrician should have been called in, but instead the family doctor tried to deliver the baby using a vacuum retractor. When the vacuum retractor didn?t work, he tried using forceps which became lodged in the mother?s uterine wall. The baby boy, who ended up being delivered by C-section by another doctor had been deprived of oxygen long enough to cause brain damage. The young boy is now 6 and is unable to walk, talk, feed himself or sit on his own. A Cook County jury found only the first doctor liable for the young boy?s injuries but the hospital and the second doctor will also have to contribute to the damages. To read the full story, click here.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on September 21, 2008 (boomark / email).