A Texas federal judge awarded $6.5 million last December to a military family who claimed their son was born with a cerebral palsy birth injury that was due to negligence on the part of the hospital where he was delivered.

U.S. District Judge James R. Nowlin said that the large award to Kassie and her husband was because of negligence that took place during labor which caused their son “H.” to be born with cerebral palsy as the result of brain damage he suffered during his birth.

H. was born on Sept. 12, 2008 after Kassie had her labor induced at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Hood, Texas. Three days after H. was born he was airlifted to San Antonio to a hospital at Lackland Air Force Base where he remained hospitalized for about eight days.

According to the birth injury lawsuit, the doctors told the mother that during her son’s delivery he suffered brain damage and would possibly develop cerebral palsy.

“He wasn’t crying when he was born,” she said. “I knew that something wasn’t right. He wasn’t right. He wasn’t moving, he didn’t cry. He wouldn’t drink out of a bottle.”

After doing some research on what causes cerebral palsy, the parents of the young boy learned that it was not a birth defect but likely a birth injury that took place during his delivery.

“It’s nothing inherited; it’s a trauma,” Kassie said.

The birth injury lawsuit filed by the parents charged Darnall with ignoring the fact that her contractions had become overstimulated by too much oxytocin, which caused the baby to go into distress be delivered immediately by cesarian section.

“There’s a part of me that does have a bit of hatred,” Kassie said. “If they’d have done things different, it would have been a different outcome for [my son]. That’s the hardest part to get over.”

Because of H.’s injuries, he is not able to talk, walk or feed himself. He has to be fed through a feeding tube.

“Life is different for him, but for the most part, he’s happy,” Kassie said.

She added that it’s time for the family “to start a new chapter now” that the trial is over.

Kassie said that the comfort in the large birth injury lawsuit settlement award is knowing that her son will be cared for even if something were to happen to her.

“That worry is not there anymore,” she said. “I fought for him because I knew in my heart that there was injustice done, and it’s a sense of pride and relief knowing that I was able to fight for him.”

She added that now she feels like she is at peace after experiencing a lot of anger over what happened to her son.

“I’m extremely blessed to have [my son],” she added. “He’s definitely changed my life for the better. I can’t imagine not having him. I’d rather have him how he is — good days, bad days, all the hospital visits. I’d rather have him as he is now than not have him at all.”