Health Law

Chicago Cerebral Palsy Settlement

This one was approved by a judge to put an end to the 4 year old case.

Labor proceeded appropriately until several minutes after Radis started pushing and fetal monitor tracings indicated the baby was not tolerating labor.

Physicians and nurses attempted to expedite the delivery by using a vacuum extractor to bring the baby's head down farther, but the vacuum was removed after eight minutes because the doctor believed with one or two more pushes, the baby would be delivered, according to the release. But the baby, Joshua Radis, was not delivered until the fifteenth push, some 31 minutes later on May 16, and by that time, he was brain-damaged and now suffers cerebral palsy.

The brain damage is basically caused by a lack of oxygen during the labor.  When I first started looking at these cases several years ago, I was surprised at how often I would come across a case where the size of the baby was an issue given the size of the mother.  This case settled for $11.5 million.

From WNBC5

Full post as published by Cerebral Palsy Law Blog on December 08, 2007 (boomark / email).