Birth Injury - Cerebral Palsy
Settlement: $2,000,000 (present case value)

The mother entered a local hospital with signs of decreased amniotic fluid. A trial of labor was commenced, with Pitocin induction. Eventually, the baby began to show signs of umbilical cord compression during contractions. The hospital nurses called the obstetrician in from home, and prepared the mother for a Cesarean section. When the obstetrician arrived, he decided not to perform the C-section, but instead re-started the Pitocin induction. At that point, he went to the "sleep room." The baby went into distress, but the nurses delayed in calling the obstetrician back to the labor room until the distress became severe. At delivery, the baby manifested signs of severe birth asphyxia.

The resuscitation of the newborn was ineffective, in part because the hospital personnel (NICU nurses and respiratory therapists) did not have adequate experience and/or training in neonatal resuscitation; and in part because they failed to call the hospital's neonatologist to the delivery room in a timely manner, despite anticipating a severely depressed baby.

The obstetrician paid his full insurance policy limits in settlement; and the hospital paid the same amount. The baby's cerebral palsy was so severe that his life expectancy - and, therefore, need for future medical care - was substantially limited.