The birth of a baby is typically a highly anticipated event for parents in Baltimore. After nine months of paying special attention to what you eat, getting the proper amount of exercise and sleep, going to regular doctor’s visits and doing everything in your power to ensure that your baby is born health and strong, you depend on your doctor to properly monitor your labor to ensure that everything proceeds normally and safely.
One couple’s trust in their doctor and hospital was put to the test when the mother’s labor was evidently mishandled. The woman delivered a baby boy on November 4, 2009 who was not breathing normally, was pale, had bleeding in his brain and had a weak pulse. The couple said because the doctor failed to perform a cesarean section, the boy was deprived of oxygen in the birth canal and suffered serious health problems. Now, at age four, the boy has problems with talking and walking, suffers from cerebral palsy and is severely developmentally delayed.
The couple hired attorneys and filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor and hospital where the baby was born. The lawsuit alleges that the doctor did not pay attention to signs of fetal distress and allowed the labor to progress even though the baby was too large for his petite mother to deliver. The mother required emergency surgery following the delivery.
Their lawsuit was heard in front of a jury who sided with the couple and awarded them $55 million in damages.
Source: The Morning Call, “Lehigh County jury awards family $55 million in medical malpractice case against St. Luke’s,” Kevin Amerman, Dec. 23, 2013