Jury Awards Mother $13 Million in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Chrissie Cole

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A Polk County jury has awarded the mother of a four-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, over $13 million dollars, in a medical malpractice agreement reached yesterday. The mother claims doctors at Broadlawns Medical Center are the blame for her son's condition.

While preparing the woman for a caesarian birth, she says the doctors stopped monitoring her baby's heartbeat. A spinal anesthetic used during the surgery caused her blood pressure to drop, cutting off oxygen to the baby. All the while, the doctor's did not realize there was a problem.

Now, four years later, her son has cerebral palsy and experts believe his condition was caused by damage to the brain that usually occurs during fetal development, birth or infancy.

Following an 11-day trial, the jury ruled in her favor yesterday and awarded her a settlement of $13.5 million.

Blank Children's Hospital was also named in the lawsuit. Nathan was sent there shortly after birth because of the complications. Blank settled its part of the case before it went to trial for an undisclosed amount of money.

An attorney for Broadlawns says, the hospital will appeal the jury's verdict.

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.