$2.1 Million - Hospital Negligence Birth Injury

• Case settled for $ 2,100,000.00  prior to trial

The case involves improper neonatal care following the birth of our client, the product of male twin pregnancy with the unfortunate intrauterine demise of his twin brother. The infant was delivered via cesarean section due to breech presentation and respiratory distress at 31 weeks gestational age. He was transferred to the neonatal nursery for prematurity, was noted to be jaundiced, and placed under bili lights. On day 3 of birth, his bilirubin elevated to a level of 14.4, which is grossly abnormal even for a full term, normal birth weight infant. Our expert opined that the defendants failed to administer sufficient phototherapy, perform daily testing of bilirubin levels and timely administer necessary exchange transfusions despite alarming bilirubin levels thus allowing the infant’s bilirubin to exceed  31. After her discharge, the mother received a 4 am phone call, advising her that her child needed an immediate exchange transfusion to avoid brain damage as his bilirubin level was critical. Unfortunately, the damage was done and the infant suffered auditory neuropathy leaving him profoundly deaf. He has since required hearing aids and underwent a cochlear implant. The defendants argued an inherited condition known as G6PD, contributed to his injuries and hearing loss. We successfully contended that the hospital was negligent by their failure to timely provide the necessary monitoring and therapies and that the infant’s permanent brain damage, hearing loss, delayed speech, need for special schooling for the deaf, developmental delays and compromised quality of life were severely impacted by their neglect.