medical malpractice lawyer

Published on: July 12, 2018

Birth Injury Verdict Results in $11.35M Verdict for Brain Injury

Living in an age of medical and scientific advancements, we have a tendency to think of our health care providers – and specialist doctors in particular – as being infallible. The truth of the mater is they are simply human who can cause harm even when they are trying to help. That’s the case with most birth injuries that give rise to medical malpractice claims.

Recently, a jury in Ohio awarded $11.35 million to a boy, now 16, who reportedly suffers from intellectual and social disabilities after suffering a brain injury at birth. His parents say the OB/GYN and her practice were negligent in the delivery of the boy in April 2001. According to court records obtained by The Akron Beacon Journal, the child was born via vaginal delivery, wherein the doctor used a vacuum and forceps. This was despite the fact there were several indications the boy needed to be delivered via C-section. These factors included the fact that patient was a first-time mother, the baby was large and also his head was facing the wrong direction. Plaintiffs alleged the baby was traumatized as a result of the delivery, with evidence of contusions and bruising.

He was thereafter hospitalized in the facility’s neonatal intensive care unit, where doctors explained the child may suffer lasting injuries. Although he initially appeared to function normally, social and developmental delays became apparent as he got older. The couple was hopeful the child would “grow out of” these issues, but by the time he was between 9- and 10-years-old, they concluded that the reality was he would not. It was at that point the parents contacted a birth injury lawyer to help investigate their claim. Continue reading →

Published on: January 16, 2017

Florida Supreme Court Rejects Medical Malpractice Arbitration Agreement

By Dean Freeman

The Florida Supreme Court late last month ruled in favor of a plaintiff fighting the enforcement of an arbitration agreement following a dispute regarding the care of her infant son, who was stillborn.

In the case of Hernandez v. Crespo, the state high court ruled the arbitration agreement between the child’s mother and the women’s clinic from which she was receiving treatment was invalid. Had the court upheld the agreement as binding, plaintiff would have been forced to handle her dispute through a private arbitration process, rather than the public courts.

Given that there are many downsides to the arbitration process for plaintiffs, this ruling is likely to have a positive effect for medical malpractice plaintiffs in Florida. Arbitration agreements have become the center of numerous types of civil disputes, from nursing home abuse to product liability. Companies are increasingly requiring customers enter into these agreements that are often unfair. In many cases, customers (or in this case, patients,) may not understand what exactly they are giving up. Continue reading →

Published on: December 9, 2015

Debuhr et al v. Hern et al – Woman Sues Abortion Doctor, Clinic After Procedure Results in Sterility

By Dean Freeman

A couple from Nebraska is suing a doctor in Colorado, seeking more than $75,000 in damages, after it is alleged he botched an abortion procedure and left his patient sterile.

The federal claim, Debuhr et al v. Hern et al, was was filed in Colorado District Court in Denver.

Plaintiff asserts the physician’s negligence forced her to undergo a subsequent procedure to have her entire uterus removed. The lawsuit alleges the physician and the clinic are responsible for negligence after the doctor left a piece of the fetus’ skull inside her body.

While the physician’s website promises patients the “safest possible abortion care and termination of pregnancies for fetal anomalies,” that is not what plaintiff alleges she was given. Continue reading →

Published on: June 15, 2015

Dean v. Central Georgia Women’s Health Center – $4.3M Awarded in Baby Death Case

By Dean Freeman

In a complex medical malpractice case involving the death of a baby born after just 23 weeks of gestation, a jury awarded the child’s parents $4.3 million.

The case, Dean v. Central Georgia Women’s Health Center, was against two obstetricians alleged to have failed in abiding by the standard of care, given the mother’s medical condition and history of miscarriages. Each doctor was found 50 percent liable for the child’s death, which the parents contended was foreseeable and preventable.

Although jurors listened to mountains of evidence over eight days, including expert witness testimony and extensive medical records, they deliberated just over two hours before reaching a verdict in favor of plaintiffs.

Continue reading →