South Carolina injury attorneys came across this troubling case that involves a medical malpractice suit filed against the United States after two deliveries were botched at two different military hospitals that resulted in the death of one child and left the other permanently disabled. If the plaintiffs in these cases are successful the U.S. Government could potentially pay out a combined sum of over $20 million to the parents of the two children.
Last week a wrongful death lawsuit led to a U.S. District Senior Judge awarding $10.2 million to the family of a child born at the U.S. Naval Hospital down in Jacksonville. The child survived the delivery, but was left with severe brain damage due to the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. At the age of three the severe brain injuries culminated in a fatal seizure.
Back in 2005, the family won a much larger sum of $60.5 million in a medical malpractice case to cover the cost of taking care of the child for his entire life. Later the government asked for a reduction in the award, but the child died five months after the Fed’s request, thus the refiling of the case by the family as a wrongful death suit.
Also in 2005, physicians at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii allegedly were responsible for a number of critical errors during the delivery of child that led to the development of cerebral palsy, a serious brain injury that causes permanent disability. The child has been deprived of the ability to walk, talk, feed herself, and use the restroom without aid for the rest of her life. In a settlement the family received $11 million through an annuity fund.
