$10.1 Million Settlement for Permanent Disabling Condition of Baby
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A North Carolina hospital and physician agreed to a settlement of a medical negligence claim with a value of $10,169,065.00.
The claim arose from a heart catheterization of a three month old girl which was done to investigate a congenital heart defect.
During the heart catheterization procedure, an assistant in the operating room handed the cardiologist the wrong type of catheter. The cardiologist did not recognize that he had been given the wrong instrument and inserted it into the child's heart. The doctor inserted dye through the catheter in order to study the interior of the heart. Because the catheter that was used had only one hole at the tip (rather than multiple holes as it should have), the catheter cut a hole into the child's heart causing severe damage to the heart. During emergency surgery to repair the heart, the child went for an extended period of time without oxygen leading to permanent brain damage because of the lack of oxygen.
As a result of this medical negligence, the child has a static encephalopathy with multiple and profound neurodevelopmental impairments, including significant developmental delays, cortical vision impairments and motor impairments.
The child has mixed cerebral palsy with abnormal tone through her trunk and four extremities consistent with spastic cerebral palsy.
The child's condition is permanent. Unfortunately, while she is capable of recognizing people and is capable of some level of mental ability, her motor skills will not allow her body to do the things that her brain may want to do.
The child will live a full life expectancy but will never be able to take care of her needs of daily living. She will require around the clock care throughout her life.
The value of the expected medical and attendant care costs during her lifetime is in the range of $11-$20 million.. All of these expected costs were caused by the medical negligence of the physician.
The child's heart defect has been repaired successfully and is not the cause of any of her injuries.
The present value of the settlement includes payments by the defendants for medical expenses, therapies, and time out of work by the child's mother (who happens to be a nurse).
The insurance companies for both the hospital and the physician contributed to the settlement.
For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.