NOVEMBER 18, 2008 – A jury in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania awarded $20.5 million yesterday to the family of a boy born in 2001, for negligence on the part of the physician and hospital the day the child was born.   The suit was filed in 2003 following mistakes made at the boy’s birth on June 30, 2001, that resulted in him having lasting, permanent medical problems, including cerebral palsy, retardation, and near blindness. The boy will require 24-hour care for the rest of his life.

The physician did not arrive at the hospital for two hours, after a fetal monitoring system at Community Medical Center indicated the baby was in distress.  When the doctor arrived, he decided to induce labor. It took about 4 hours for the baby to be born, in which time lasting medical problems had developed.

The jury deliberated for four hours before assigning 60% of the negligence to the physician, and 40% of the negligence to the hospital. The award gives $2 million for medical and health care expenses and costs, and $18.5 million to the boy for medical costs, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering which he will receive when he turns 18. The award was the largest medical malpractice jury verdict in recent history.