Despite jury verdict, doctor continues fighting birth injury case

Wherever birth injury cases are held involving the accusation of medical mistake, it will likely be sometime before the matter is finally resolved. In a neighboring state of Pennsylvania, a verdict of $13.9 million dollars was returned, the verdict was later reduced to $9.7 million by the court, and the attorney for the doctor expected to pay the verdict is now attempting to have the judge replaced from the case as pertains to a variety of post-verdict issues that still require sorting out.

The case involves an 11-year old girl still suffering from medical problems due to her birth. It has been claimed by the family that a failure to perform a Cesarean section caused the child to be deprived of oxygen, and this led to brain injury and cerebral palsy.

Though it was the jury that decided upon the $13.9 million verdict, attorneys for the doctor in this matter felt that the judge in the case was too biased in the matter to allow for any member of the medical community to be given a fair trial. However, despite the doctor’s claim, the Supreme Court for the state where the matter is being tried refused to grant an appeal concerning a $10.5 million bond posted by the doctor’s insurance company from which the family of the child could draw its compensation.

It’s possible that the perceived bias of the judge by the doctor’s attorney is accurate. On the other hand, it’s also possible that the doctor will pursue every legal avenue to avoid having to pay this sort of verdict.

The complexity of such lawsuits is why anyone seeking advice regarding birth injuries occurring to their child would be well advised to speak to an attorney extremely familiar with medical malpractice litigation. Hospitals have a vast amount of resources to continue fighting medical malpractice cases, so it does take an experienced attorney to prosecute these entities.

Source: Trib Today, “Doctor seeks new judge,” by Christopher Bobby, Feb. 14, 2013