California Birth Injury Lawyers
Medical Malpractice that Causes Infant Brain Injury & Nervous System Injuries
San Francisco Bay Area · Los Angeles · San Diego
Failure to Diagnose Fetal Distress - $5,000,000 Anoxic Encephalopathy Settlement
Our traumatic brain injury attorneys obtained a cash and annuity settlement having a present cash value of more than $5,000,000 on behalf of a 6-year-old girl who sustained irreparable brain damage during her birth process. The defendant in the case was a national health maintenance organization. The obstetricians employed by the health maintenance organization failed to correctly analyze or diagnose signs of fetal distress as shown on fetal monitoring tapes.
Our birth injury attorneys hired experts in obstetrics and perinatology to testify that a timely cesarean section, occurring 45 minutes or more before the actual birth, would have prevented the child from sustaining anoxic brain damage (brain cell death due to lack of oxygen). Attorneys for the defendant health care provider attempted to prove that the child's brain injuries were not the result of oxygen deprivation during the labor process, but rather were the result of an infection, which the mother experienced one month before her delivery. When combined with available benefits provided by private insurance and government programs, the guaranteed future monthly and annual payments to be made under the settlement should assure that the his medical and special needs will be met regardless of his life expectancy.
Failure to Recognize Fetal Distress - $5,000,000 Hypoxic Brain Damage Settlement
Our brain injury attorneys obtained a mediated settlement against the State's largest HMO in a major obstetrical injury case involving anoxic brain damage and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. The case was brought on behalf of a two-year-old Sonoma County boy who sustained global brain damage when fetal distress was neither noted nor responded to during his birth. The settlement also included resolution of his parent's claims for emotional distress and his potential future wrongful death.
The parent's recovery was limited to the unfair and discriminatory limit of $250,000 per claim imposed by California's outdated MICRA statute. A special needs trust was established with an initial corpus of more than $ 1,250,000 into which future annuity payments (commencing at $5,000 per month, increasing at 5% annually, for life, guaranteed 20 years) are to be deposited. A second, separate, annuity will begin paying an additional $4,000 per month, increasing at 4% per year, when the child reaches his 18th birthday. Because the child is eligible for both CCS and Regional Center benefits until he reaches the age of three, the past out of pocket expenditures made by the parents have been modest - as a result, the settlement was designed to be back-loaded (and guaranteed) to protect against the cost of custodial and attendant care in a home-based environment in the future. The settlement is believed to be among the largest ever negotiated on behalf of a North Bay plan member of this HMO.
Failure to Monitor Chorioamnioitis - $5,000,000 Spastic Quadraparesis Settlement
The injury attorneys at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger negotiated a cash and annuity settlement with a present cash value in excess of $5,000,000 on behalf of an infant born with severe spastic quadriparesis and permanent paralysis after doctors and nursing staff failed to monitor the mother and deliver the baby quickly when an internal fetal heart monitor indicated severe distress.
The 36-year-old mother's pregnancy and delivery seemed to be progressing normally when, 8 hours after being admitted to the hospital, she developed a high fever. The doctor on call administered antibiotics for suspected chorioamnioitis, and said he would check back in an hour. Nearly three hours later, the fetal heart rate monitor indicated that the baby's heart rate had dropped to 85 and 90, and remained there for about 10 minutes. The infant was born an hour later by emergent vacuum extraction, with no heart rate. She was resuscitated through chest compressions. In the days following her birth, the infant exhibited seizures. An MRI showed severe hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. The child will remain fully dependant on others for all of her care needs for her entire life. She is not expected to develop beyond the level of a one month old infant. Our birth injury lawyers utilized rehabilitation specialists, life care and therapy planners, a vocational rehabilitation consultant and a pediatric physiatrist to map out a lifetime plan of medical and attendant care that will be funded through a tax free structured annuity while preserving government benefit entitlement through the use of a special needs trust.
Improperly Managed Labor - $5,000,000 Cerebral Palsy Settlement
Our traumatic brain injury attorneys obtained a settlement having a present cash value of more than $5,000,000 on behalf of a 6-year-old girl who sustained irreparable brain damage during her birth process. The defendant in the case was a national health maintenance organization. The obstetricians employed by the health maintenance organization failed to correctly analyze or appreciate signs of fetal distress as reflected on fetal monitoring tapes.
Experts in obstetrics and perinatology testified that a timely cesarean section, occurring 45 minutes or more before the actual birth, would have prevented the child from sustaining anoxic brain damage. Attorneys for the defendant health care provider attempted to prove that the child's cerebral palsy was not the result of oxygen deprivation during the labor process, but rather was the result of an infection which the mother experienced one month before her delivery. When combined with available benefits provided by private insurance and government programs, the structured future components of the settlement assures that the child's medical and special needs will be met regardless of her life expectancy.
Failure to Perform Timely Cesarean Section - $4,100,000 Cerebral Palsy Settlement
In a case involving cerebral palsy, our medical negligence cerebral palsy attorneys obtained a binding arbitration award having a present cash value of $4,100,000 on behalf of a 3-year-old boy afflicted with neurological injuries as a result of negligent delivery at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Redwood City. Lawyers from Walkup Melodia were able to prove that the infant endured a period of oxygen deprivation during his birth when his mother's uterus ruptured. The uterine rupture was due to a midwife's failure to properly manage the mother while in labor. The Walkup attorney team also proved that obstetrical nurses left the mother unattended prior to the rupture of her uterus, and for that reason, failed to appreciate ominous signs of the baby's distress as reported on a fetal heart monitor. Prior to the first day of arbitration, Kaiser had made no settlement offer.
Delayed Admittance to Obstetrical Unit - Pediatric Brain Injury Settlement
The Walkup traumatic brain injury lawyers negotiated a pre-trial mediated settlement on behalf of a child who suffered profound brain damage when her mother's uterus ruptured at the site of a previous myomectomy (surgery to remove a fibroid in the uterine wall). Two weeks prior to the baby's delivery, the child's mother was hospitalized in pre-term labor. After being medicated and released, she was advised to observe strict bed rest and communicate with her OBGYN's office. Without determining the onset, frequency, characteristics or location of the pain suffered by the mother, a telephone advice nurse told the mother to take additional doses of her anti-contraction medication. Eight hours later, the mother awoke in severe pain. She was taken to a local hospital where the child was delivered by emergency C-section at 32 weeks gestation. The child was diagnosed with periventricular leukomalacia and later developed infantile spasms and cerebral palsy.
Failure to Recognize Fetal Distress - $5,000,000 Quadriplegia/Brain Damage Settlement
Our brain injury attorneys negotiated a cash and annuity settlement with a present cash value in excess of $5,000,000 on behalf of an infant born with severe developmental delay, spastic quadriparesis, and permanent neurological injuries after Kaiser San Francisco doctors and nursing staff failed to monitor the mother, and failed to deliver the baby quickly when fetal heart monitors indicated severe distress. The 36-year-old mother's pregnancy and delivery seemed to be progressing normally when, eight hours after being admitted to the hospital, she developed a high fever. The doctor on call administered antibiotics for suspected chorioamnionitis (an inflammation of the amniotic membranes) and said he would check back in an hour. Nearly three hours later, the fetal heart rate monitors indicated that the baby's heart rate had dropped to 85 and 90, and remained there for about ten minutes, prompting a frightened nurse to contact the doctor.
In the days following her birth, the infant exhibited general seizures with tremors in the lower and upper extremities. An MRI performed eight days after her birth revealed that she had severe hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. The child will remain fully dependent for all of her care needs for her entire life. She is not expected to develop beyond the level of a one-month-old infant. Our birth injury specialists proved that the child's brain injury occurred because of the failure to aggressively monitor the mother and fetus after administration of antibiotics and failure to deliver the baby when infection was first suspected.
