Category Archives: Birth Trauma
Maryland Lawmakers Contemplating Birth Injury Fund
According to the Baltimore Sun, lawmakers in Maryland are pushing for a bill that would create a fund to help pay for treatment for babies who suffer from neurological injuries during birth. The legislation would let hospitals, doctors with obstetrics and gynecological practices, as well as malpractice insurers, pay annual fees to the birth injury fund, which families could used to pay medical bills, recoup lost earnings potential and cover other costs, according to the Sun. Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical System feel that the fund is needed because of several recent multimillion-dollar judgments in the state. The healthcare providers said that if lawsuits continue to mount, it could lead to some practices closing and reduced access to medical care. “What we would like is a fair shake in cost containment,” Andrew Satin, director of gynecology and obstetrics at Johns Hopkins Medicine, told the Sun. “I…
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Posted in Birth Defects, Birth Trauma, Brain Damage, Brain Injury, Cerebral Palsy, Shoulder Dystocia Comments Off on Maryland Lawmakers Contemplating Birth Injury Fund
Family Awarded $55 Million After Delayed C-Section Results In Cerebral Palsy
According to the Express-Times, a Pennsylvania family was awarded $55 million last December after it sued a hospital and one of its doctors for medical malpractice. The news outlet reported that a Lehigh County jury awarded the money to the family after it was convinced that St. Luke’s University Hospital and Dr. Ronald Kirner ignored signs that a baby boy was not getting enough oxygen during his November 2009 birth and should have been delivered via Caesarean section. The Express-Times reported that Matthew Crowell lost oxygen when he became stuck during a vaginal delivery. His mother, Sharon Petrosky Crowell, reportedly began hemorrhaging and required emergency surgery. Matthew now suffers from cerebral palsy and is severely developmentally delayed. The jury reportedly decided St. Luke’s and Kirner are each 50 percent to blame for Matthew’s disabilities. The Express-Times reported that the family is unlikely to get the full $55 million award because…
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Family of Pennsylvania Girl Born With Cerebral Palsy Awarded $32.8 Million
According to the Daily Local News, a newspaper in Pennsylvania, a court awarded the family of a young girl $32.8 million last month after she was born with brain damage at the Phoenixville Hospital. The court reportedly found that two nurses were negligent while attending to the girl’s pregnant mother during her birth. According to the paper, the girl, Lily Ciechoski, suffers from spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. A jury reportedly found that the nurses “improperly failed to alert the girl’s mother’s doctor about a drastic change in the baby’s heart rate for 13 minutes during labor.” The delays led the baby to suffer brain damage. On November 14, 2009, Lily’s mother, Leslie Proffitt of North Coventry, was admitted to the hospital for her delivery. She reportedly did not have any concerns about the delivery and was near her due date. The following day, the baby’s heart rate dropped significantly, from…
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