The A.W. Smith Law Firm attained a $4.75 million settlement in a birth injury case earlier in 2010.

*The terms of the settlement required confidentiality regarding the names and all indicators of the defendants, so those details have been removed from this blog.

Plaintiffs John and Jane Doe went to the hospital to have their first child delivered on August 20, 2007. Jane Doe was in labor for 16 hours before finally giving birth. During that time, there were indications that the baby was going through periods of distress. After birth, it was determined that Baby Doe was deprived of oxygen while still in the uterus long enough for him to develop severe cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is a disease that is untreatable and can develop during child birth due to lack of oxygen to the baby's brain. Often, it can be easily prevented by monitoring the fetus's fetal heart rate on a monitor. Due to the amount of time that Baby Doe was deprived of oxygen, he suffers from not only cerebral palsy, but seizures, persistent encephalopathy, diffuse brain atrophy, marked hypotonia in the trunk and lower limbs, and brisk deep tendon reflexes.

The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the hospital, the obstetrician (OBGYN), and the birthing center nurse. Plaintiffs claimed that the hospital failed to properly use the fetal monitoring equipment, failed to recognize the signs of Baby Doe's distress, failed to have staff on hand that knew how to address the health problems once they had been realized, and failed to perform an emergency C-section.

The case was settled in early 2010 for $4,750,000.

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An Ozark couple has recently settled their Missouri medical malpractice suit with the University of Missouri Hospital for $2.5 million.

Susan Martin, now 49, was being treated at the hospital in Columbia, Missouri for dehydration due to a gastrointestinal -related condition. In an effort to rehydrate her, doctors ordered an IV of nutrients. The IV was intended to go into a subclavian vein, but was mistakenly put in her subclavian artery. This mistake caused fatty blockages to flow to Martin's brain for five days straight. The blockages caused serious and permanent damage to Martin, including numerous devastating strokes and other neurological and cognitive destruction.

Martin is now physically and mentally handicapped. The doctors argued that the strokes and other problems could have been caused by pre-existing conditions, but Martin's Missouri personal injury attorney argued that it was due to the direct negligence of her medical care providers.

The University Hospital made no comment regarding this Missouri medical malpractice suit.

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A teenage athlete's family settled their suit against her coach, school, and the gym where she was injured during a basketball practice with a confidential settlement in 2006. Katie Patrick, 14, hit her head against an uncovered metal wall during her high school basketball practice resulting in a traumatic brain injury.

On Nov. 19, 2002, Patrick attended basketball practice in a church gym leased by her school for P.E. and extracurricular sports practices. The building had unpadded metal walls underneath the baskets, and during the practice Patrick hit her head against the wall. She was taken to the McCune-Brooks Hospital in Carthage, Missouri (Mo.) Emergency Room for X-rays and CT scans, which came back negative. However, Patrick suffered from headaches, dizziness, and nausea for months after the injury. After frequent trips to the emergency room Patrick went to the Mayo clinic, where she was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.

A personal injury suit was filed on behalf of Patrick against the First Baptist Church (the location of the gym), Sarcoxie R-II School District and Chad Harris (the team coach). Although maintenance wasn't specified in the lease of the church gymnasium, witnesses for both sides said that both parties were equally responsible for upkeep. Witnesses also testified that there had been discussions from the onset of the agreement to install padding on the exposed metal poles of the baskets and on the metal polls behind the baskets. Testimony conflicted as to who was responsible for initiating and undertaking those measures.

Defendants also argued that Patrick's injuries were not as severe as she claimed, that the treatment prescribed by and the PET scans interpreted by Patrick's neuroradiologist was unreliable and inaccurate. An expert hired by the defense who examined the witness said that her doctors were overstating her injuries. Ultimately, however, a biomechanical engineer expert performed an inspection of the site and compared the hardness of the metal wall and the padded portions of the wall that were added after Patrick's injury took place. He found that if the wall had been padded Patrick would likely not have struck the wall with enough force to suffer even a mild traumatic brain injury.

Patrick's attorney, A.W. Smith was able to secure a settlement estimated at $6.9 million for Patrick's expenses and pain and suffering.

Continue reading "Carthage Missouri Traumatic Brain Injury Case Settled Against Sports Facility" »