| The MEDLAW Legal
Team Recovers $3.7 Million Jury Verdict in Cerebral Palsy / Medical Malpractice Case
On April 14, 2005, a South Carolina jury
awarded Lisa and Damon Viele, and their daughter Elizabeth $3.7 million
dollars to compensate them for Elizabeth's cerebral palsy injuries that
she suffered at birth following Lisa's doctor's failure to perform a
timely delivery.
On September 18, 1999, Lisa Viele was admitted to Toumey Regional
Medical Center for induction of labor. It was to be her first child. She
and her husband Damon were excited about the prospect of becoming
parents for the first time. Lisa was given Pitocin, a drug that makes
the contractions more intense and Cytotec, a drug that causes the Uterus
to get thinner. At first, her labor progressed normally, and the fetal
heart monitor, a device that physicians use to track the health of the
baby by measuring her heart rate and comparing it to mom's contractions,
showed reassuring signs. The baby's heart was reacting normally to the
contractions. Around 6:00 PM, things started to take a turn for the
worse. The baby's heart rate began to slow down too much at contractions
and started to take a long time to come back to normal. The nurses
called Lisa's Obstetrician and she came in at 8:18 that night and
ordered that the Pitocin, a drug that intensifies contractions, be
increased.
After she left the Hospital, the nurses continued to note problems with
the labor and delivery. The noticed that the baby's heart was still
slowing down at the wrong times and taking a long time to recover. The
noticed that the pattern of the heart rate on the monitor was abnormal.
Lisa's doctor came in again at 10:30, and despite the problems that were
evident, decided to stop Lisa's pitocin and wait it out overnight. She
left the Hospital at midnight, aware of the problems that the baby was
having. At 1:30 AM the nurses called Lisa's doctor at home and told her
that the decelerations were still present and that the variability of
the babies heart rate, another good thing to look for, was absent. The
Doctor ordered Lisa's epidural, a pain remedy, removed but did not come
to the hospital.
By 8:00 AM the nest morning the heart rate had become flat and Dr.
Anderson was called again. At 8:25 she came to the hospital and ordered
a c-section. When Elizabeth was born, she needed oxygen to revive her.
Soon after she was born, she started having seizures. A CT scan, taken 8
hours after she was born, showed the first signs of brain damage. The
damage was severe and permanent.
Lisa and Damon wondered why the Doctor hadn't delivered Elizabeth sooner
and wanted to know if that would have prevented her injuries. To that
end, they hired Ken Suggs and Stephen Suggs to investigate the case.
What they determined was that the doctor should have done a c-section no
later than 9:00 PM on the day Lisa was admitted to the Hospital. By not
doing a c-section, the doctor left Elizabeth in a place where she
couldn't get enough oxygen. Her heart had to bounce back from each
contraction to pump oxygen to her organs. Eventually, even her brain
wasn't getting the oxygen it needed. When she was finally taken out of
the bad situation the damage had been done. An expert in the field of
economics established that her future medical expenses and lost earning
capacity from her disabilities was 2.7 million dollars. She had a
shrunken brain and was blind. Now 6 years old, Elizabeth can say about 6
words. She has seizures and Cerebral Palsy.
At trial the jury agreed with Lisa and Damon that the doctor should have
saved Elizabeth when she had the chance. Janet, Jenner & Suggs, LLC, was
privileged to represent this wonderful family, and was pleased they were
able to provide adequate compensation for the child's future needs.
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