This week, a federal judge in Oklahoma awarded $15 million to the family of a baby who suffered a devastating birth injury during the delivery process at an Indian Health Service hospital.
The Court found that the Chicksaw Nation Medical Center staff’s failure to stop the administration of Pitocin, a labor-inducing drug, cut off oxygen to the baby’s brain during labor. The evidence showed that not only did the medical staff fail to follow the doctor’s orders that the Pitocin be stopped, but they instead increased the drug further worsening the oxygen deprivation.
Sadly, the baby was born with severe brain damage and quadriplegia. Even after the baby’s delivery there were still opportunities to improve his condition, but the healthcare providers at this IHS facility inexplicably cancelled an emergency ambulance transfer needed to get the infant to a larger hospital for emergent care.
There are no more difficult cases than birth injury cases. Knowing that a young child will be forever challenged by lifelong disabilities that could have been prevented is heartbreaking and it is why maximum compensation is so important to help the child and family manage those disabilities and health complications that will last a lifetime.
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