The family of a five-year-old Chicago boy was awarded $14 million after he suffered a severe brain injury during birth that resulted in him having cerebral palsy. Staff members at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago allegedly mixed up the boy’s heart rate with his mother’s pulse rate. Obstetrical malpractice is one of the most devastating of all types of medical malpractice because it affects a baby as it’s coming into the world.
The baby boy was not breathing when he was born, and the staff was not prepared to resuscitate him because of the monitoring error. The obstetrician and the nurse both misinterpreted the boy’s heart rate before delivery and did not even realize the baby was in fetal distress.
The boy went without oxygen for seven minutes which, in turn, caused him to have cerebral palsy with total paralysis of his arms and legs. A neonatal resuscitation team was not called until the baby was delivered, and as soon as a breathing tube was placed in his airway, his heart rate increased. But it was too late; the damage to the brain had already been done, and the boy will never walk or talk.
If you or a loved one has suffered a birth injury in Arizona such as cerebral palsy, please visit the website of the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Snyder & Wenner, P.C., serving clients in Phoenix and surrounding areas of Arizona.
