Personal Injury Law

Family Wins $6.5 Million Birthing Malpractice Settlement for Son's Brain Injury

By Jack Lebowitz, Esq. and Vadim Mzhen, Esq.

The family of a 7-year-old boy who suffers from cerebral palsy because of a brain injury he allegedly sustained during his birth will receive a $6.5 million medical malpractice settlement. Roberto Morales Jr. was born at Provena Mercy Medical Center on April 7, 2001.

According to the family?s medical malpractice lawyers, the boy?s attending obstetrician and labor and delivery nurse were negligent when they allegedly failed to respond fast enough to his decreasing heart rate and reduced oxygen flow after his mother was administered the drug Pitocin. Following his birth, Morales was flown to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, where he stayed for a month. The medical malpractice defendants were Provena Medical Center, Dreyer Medical Group Ltd, Dreyer Clinic Inc., Advocate Health Care Network, and obstetrician Judson Jones.

Birthing Malpractice
Birthing errors can lead to an infant suffering permanent, debilitating, and costly injuries. If your son or daughter was injured during birth because a doctor, nurse, surgeon, obstetrician, or another medical professional was negligent, you may have grounds to file a birthing malpractice lawsuit.

Also this month, in another birthing malpractice case, a lawsuit was filed against Memorial Hospital, St. Louis University Hospital, and the physician who delivered Haley Overmeyer on January 9, 2005. Haley?s mother, Linda Overmeyer, claims medical errors during delivery are the reason Haley has cerebral palsy.

Linda claims Dr. William Keenan failed to appropriately resuscitate her daughter, ensure that she was correctly intubated, and correctly monitor her condition. Linda also contends that had Keenan provided mother and daughter with the appropriate level of standard medical care, Haley?s disability could have been prevented.

Hundreds of cerebral palsy lawsuits alleging medical malpractice are filed by victims' families every year.

Hospital to Pay $6.5M For Boy's Brain Injury, MSNBC.com, January 15, 2009

Memorial, SLU and doctor sued over child's cerebral palsy, The Record, January 5, 2009

Related Web Resources:

NINDS Cerebral Palsy Information Page, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Cerebral Palsy, CerebralPalsyInfo.org

Full post as published by Maryland Accident Law Blog on January 17, 2009 (boomark / email).