Cerebral palsy is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition often occurring due to birth trauma or difficulties during the childbirth process.

While sometimes attributed to unavoidable congenital abnormalities, cerebral palsy may also be directly linked to medical malpractice by hospital nursing staff, obstetricians, and any other member of the birthing team.

In a recent verdict entered in Kentucky’s Barren Circuit Court, the T.J. Samson Community Hospital has agreed to pay $18 million to the victim of birth injury malpractice, who is now facing lifelong restrictions and limitations due to the development of cerebral palsy.

The medical malpractice lawsuit was filed in 2011 after the victim’s mother determined that there was a strong possibility her child’s cerebral palsy was caused by hospital staff who failed to properly monitor the mother and baby during childbirth — resulting in loss of oxygen for the baby. The child, who is now preschool-aged, suffers from a form of cerebral palsy known as spastic quadriplegia and will require lifelong care and monitoring.

According the medical malpractice birth injury lawsuit filed in 2011, the mother was admitted to T.J. Samson Community Hospital for an induced pregnancy. It was during this delivery that her baby suffered from a lack of oxygen, ultimately resulting in his cerebral palsy diagnosis.

The jury deliberated for just over an hour before the announcement of its judgment, which went solely against the hospital. The obstetrician who delivered the baby was cleared of the medical malpractice charges.

Key issues in the medical malpractice lawsuit included the proper use of the drug Pitocin during the childbirth process and the communication between the obstetrician and T.J. Samson employees during the birth.

The total award of $18.2 million includes damages for medical, hospital and prescription­related expenses to date and in the future, based on a calculated life expectancy of 75 years, impairment of power to labor and earn money, and mental anguish and pain and suffering in the past and the future.

Birth Injury Lawsuits

Birth injury medical malpractice lawsuits require that the plaintiff show that the physician or nurse was negligent. In order to successfully establish a cause of action for negligence against a hospital or medical staff, a plaintiff must show that the healthcare professionals did not conduct procedures in accordance with medically accepted protocols, thereby resulting in injuries to the patient.

In the context of labor and delivery, a successful plaintiff must show that the hospital and/or staff deviated from the accepted standards of care offered to pregnant women and their babies during the childbirth process.

This includes properly monitoring the child’s heart rate and position in the womb, carefully checking the mother’s dilatation and progression, and administering intervention drugs such as pitocin, when necessary – and this must be done in accordance with the doctor’s orders.

In the birth injury medical malpractice lawsuit involving T.J. Samson Community Hospital, the jury found that hospital staff did not adhere to the medically-accepted protocols necessary to properly effectuate a safe and timely labor and delivery.