Memphis Jury Awards $33.5 Million for Child’s Birth Injury

By Thomas Greer | October 22, 2013

A child who suffers from severe birth injuries faces a lifetime of medical needs, extensive assistance requirements, and special education needs.  In order to lead the best possible life, it will be important to have access to the best available therapy or medical treatment, adaptations to the family home and vehicle, specialized education programs, and personal aid.  All of these things cost a lot of money.  The tremendous burden placed on a family with a child who suffers from the lifetime of struggles caused by a preventable birth injury is the reason why jurors award large settlements in these cases.  This recently was demonstrated by a Memphis jury.

In July 2013, a jury of two men and ten women issued an award of $33.5 million to an eight-year old boy who suffers from Cerebral Palsy resulting from a birth injury.  The award was issued against the mother’s obstetrician, Dr. Gary Lipscomb, as well as UT Medical Group, Inc. (Case number 003764-07, Circuit Court for Tennessee for the Thirtieth Judicial District at Memphis, Shelby County).

This case involved a woman who consulted with a doctor at the high risk obstetrical clinic at UT Medical Group.  It was determined that her baby was showing signs of fetal distress and needed to be delivered as soon as possible to avoid a serious birth injury.  It was not until six hours after the mother was brought into a hospital that her son was born.  Rather than deliver the baby immediately, surgery was scheduled for nearly five hours after her admission to the hospital.  Despite the urgent nature of the delivery, the medical professionals failed to conduct the surgery as scheduled, missing the time by nearly eighty minutes.

The tragic delays led to the baby boy being born with a cognitive impairment caused by brain damage, as well as Cerebral Palsy, leading to an inability to control bodily functions or use his limbs in an effective manner.  Medical experts testified that if the emergency delivery had been performed a short period of time before it was done, as little as 15-20 minutes, then the child and his family would not face the lifetime of hardships that now lies before them.

This is only one example out of thousands of children who have suffered a preventable birth injury.  These injuries have a permanent impact on the lives of those affected.  The needs do not go away.  Therefore, a settlement or jury award must be sufficient for a lifetime worth of care.  These cases are not about punishment, but rather getting families the resources that they absolutely need.  As demonstrated by the above case, there often are a series of events and decisions that lead to a birth injury.  It is necessary to identify each stage where something went wrong and who was responsible for preventing that mistake.  Negligence usually does not involve any true malfeasance, but involves one or more errors that have terrible consequences.  Regardless of the fact that nobody may have meant to harm your child, you need to hold the wrongdoers accountable for their mistakes so that your child can get the medical treatment and assistance that he deserves.

Birth injuries lead to a lifetime of overcoming the hurdles of a disability or impairment.  A family needs resources to be able to provide the life that their child deserves.  The Tennessee birth injury law firm of Bailey & Greer, PLLC will fight to identify all the medical professionals and associated facilities who made mistakes that led to your child’s birth injury.  We are committed to the hard work that it will take to get the compensation that you need.  Please call us at 901-680-9777 so that we can discuss your child’s ongoing needs and the legal strategy that will accomplish your goals.  At Bailey & Greer, we are small enough to care, big enough to fight, and experienced enough to win.

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