An Ohio woman won $22.6 million on May 19^th in a medical malpractice lawsuit. While in labor with her first child in September of 1997, Heather Grow’s baby got stuck in her birth canal for 13 ½ hours. Ms. Grow’s doctors had been aware that she had a narrow pelvic arch, and that issue became quite serious when the doctors realized that the baby was going to be rather large - about nine pounds. Not only did the child become stuck in the birth canal, but medical workers repeatedly gave Ms. Grow medication to contract her uterus in hopes to expel the baby. This caused the uterus to contract on the child’s head every one to two minutes for hours. The baby was eventually delivered by Caesarian section. The child, Cassie Grow, now 11 years old, suffered brain damage from her head being squeezed for a long period of time. She is mildly retarded, and is a spastic quadriplegic, meaning she has limited use of her limbs. She is able to walk short distances, but only with a walker, and has difficulty using her hands. The area of Cassie’s brain that processes vision was damaged, so she is unable to properly interpret what she sees. Her injuries are permanent.

The jury felt that the physicians should have known their actions would have caused brain injuries, and after five weeks of testimony, found Dr. Lisa Yang and her doctors group, Group Health Associates, negligent. The jury ruled that $22,646,023 be paid to the Grow family by Dr. Yang and her group. $7,959,747 of that is for Cassie’s future medical bills, and $7.5 million is for her loss of ability to perform usual activities in the future. She also was awarded $3 million for pain and suffering. Group Health Associates and Good Samaritan Hospital denied that they were negligent.

If you reside in the San Diego area and have been injured, contact the law firm of Estey & Bomberger.