A federal judge awarded an additional $850,000 to an Oklahoma couple previously awarded $15 million from a hospital whose negligence caused the couple’s son to suffer a traumatic birth injury, resulting in permanent brain damage.

In April, a court upheld the judgment against the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center in favor of plaintiffs Alexis, Taylor, and Baby S., but limited the amount of non-economic damages each family member could collect. The court ruled that the three family members were entitled to $350,000 each.

But earlier this year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned a 2011 state law capping non-economic damages in certain cases at $350,000.

Due to the change in the law, the infant will receive $1 million, Alexis will collect $500,000, and Taylor will get $400,000. These damages are in addition to the $15 million judgment.

The 2017 lawsuit alleged that the baby boy suffered a traumatic birth injury during Alexis’s labor and delivery at Chickasaw Nation Medical Center in May 2016. The hospital reportedly knew that the child would need resuscitation after birth, but did not have a pediatrician present to help the infant after delivery.

As a result of the medical center’s negligence, the baby sustained serious and permanent injuries including irreversible brain damage, muscular stiffness in all four limbs (spastic quadriplegia), and cerebral palsy.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cerebral palsy broadly refers to disorders that affect movement, balance, and posture. Cerebral palsy is the “most common motor disability in childhood”.

Symptoms of the disease often appear in infancy and preschool years, According to the Mayo Clinic, signs of cerebral palsy may include:

• Variations in muscle tone (too stiff or too floppy)
• Spasticity (stiff muscles and exaggerated reflexes)
• Rigidity (stiff muscles with normal reflexes)
• Ataxia (poor muscle coordination)
• Tremors
• Involuntary movements
• Athetosis (Slow, writhing movements)
• Delays in reaching certain infant motor skills milestones (pushing up on arms, sitting up alone, crawling, etc.)
• Favoring one side of the body (reaching with only one hand, dragging a leg while crawling, etc.)
• Difficult or abnormal walking (walking on toes, a crouched gait, a scissors-like gait with knees crossing, a wide gait, an asymmetrical gait, etc.)
• Excessive drooling
• Problems swallowing
• Difficulty with sucking or eating
• Delays in speech development
• Difficulty speaking
• Difficulty with precise motions (picking up a crayon, using a spoon, other precise motor functions)
• Neurological problems (seizures, vision issues, hearing problems, intellectual disabilities, touch or pain reception abnormalities, oral diseases, urinary incontinence, and mental health conditions)

Cerebral palsy may be caused by maternal infections, fetal stroke, infant infections, traumatic head injury, and lack of oxygen. Depending on the cause and severity of these factors, the symptoms of cerebral palsy may vary between individuals.

The Traumatic Birth Injury Lawsuit is Case No. 6:17-cv-00186 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.