Category Archives: Birth Trauma
Michigan Family Awarded $130 Million For Daughter’s Brain Damage
A doctor’s negligence can cause unprecedented harm in the delivery of a child, and the harm can last a lifetime. A jury considered this timeframe in Michigan on Tuesday when they awarded the family of a brain-damaged girl what might be the largest medical malpractice verdict in Michigan History. The family of a 15-year old Markell VanSlembrouck, a quadriplegic girl resulting from a brain injury acquired at birth, was awarded $130 million in damages after a three-week trial where the family alleged negligence by the delivering doctor. Markell was larger than expected from gestational diabetes, but rather than perform a cesarean, Dr. Andrew Halperin from Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak chose to induce vaginal delivery. The delivery resulted in a broken clavicle and brain damage. Quadriplegia followed, requiring round-the-clock care. The VanSlembrouck’s attorney says the award represents the cost of caring for Markell through 2077 and her lost wages, and…
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Posted in Birth Defects, Birth Trauma, Brain Damage Tagged Birth Defects, birth trauma lawyers, brain injuries Comments Off on Michigan Family Awarded $130 Million For Daughter’s Brain Damage
Study Finds Mild Infections Do Not Increase Cerebral Palsy Risk
The medical community is continuously searching for factors that increase the risk of a child developing cerebral palsy. There are concerns that infections in a mother may raise the risk of cerebral palsy, but a new study has found that common colds and stomach flu are not tied to the birth defect. One of the study’s authors said that other more serious infections and factors like a woman’s history of miscarriage or a family history of cerebral palsy were associated with increased risk to babies, but even then, the risk was low. Pre-term birth, growth restrictions inside the uterus and being a twin or part of a larger set of multiples also increased the risk, as well as severe maternal infections. With 10,000 babies in the United States being born a year developing cerebral palsy, the continuing search for causes is likely to continue. The most significant infections linked to…
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Posted in Birth Trauma, Brain Damage, Cerebral Palsy Tagged cerebral palsy, cerebral palsy lawyer Comments Off on Study Finds Mild Infections Do Not Increase Cerebral Palsy Risk
Forceps Cause Deadly Head Injury
Giving birth can be a traumatic experience even when everything goes right. People hope the doctor assisting in the birth will ease the process as much as possible, and ensure the healthy delivery of their child. Unfortunately, even highly skilled doctors make mistakes, and mistakes during birth can have disastrous results. A baby boy died in Ireland one week after his birth by emergency Caesarean due to brain trauma last month. There were complications in Daniel McGovern’s birth that led to a doctor attempting to extract him with forceps. The doctor was unsuccessful with the forceps and had to deliver the boy by Caesarean. After McGovern was delivered, it was discovered that he had a prominent traumatic lesion on his head with bleeding within the skull. Birth defects and baby brain injuries can occur for a variety of reasons, and often they are accidental. In this case, the doctor used…
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