Jury awards family $18.2M after ‘never maneuver’ leaves child paralyzed for life
A jury in North Carolina awarded a 6-year-old and his mother a record verdict of $18.2 million after a WakeMed doctor was found to have acted negligently during the boy’s birth, leaving him with “permanent nerve injuries.”
The award is one of the largest from a malpractice lawsuit to ever be awarded in the state, setting a record for the county, lawyers representing the plaintiffs said in a July 14 announcement. During the five-week trial, the hospital, located in Raleigh, was found to also be liable for the young patient’s debilitating injuries.
“The 12-person jury reached unanimous verdicts confirming both negligence on the part of the hospital and the resident physician, as well as damages,” the statement from the Grant & Eisenhofer law firm reads.
The incident at the center of the case happened on September 17, 2019, when Laurel Browne arrived at WakeMed Raleigh Campus Hospital in labor. The birth of her son, Naqah Lake, was met with some complications. As his head emerged, his shoulder became stuck behind Browne’s pelvic bone—a condition called shoulder dystocia.
According to what was presented in court, the resident attending physician and defendant—left unnamed in the statement—noted as such on medical records, leaving little room to dispute what the issue was.
It’s the solution that was the focus of the plaintiff’s grief. According to the complaint, the doctor performed a fetal vertex rotation, a dangerous maneuver to rotate the baby’s head, which it was determined should never be deployed during an incident of shoulder dystocia.
As the baby’s head rotated, his shoulder remained stuck. It was this that caused Lake’s global pan plexus injuries, leaving him with nerve damage that will forever leave his other shoulder—the one that wasn’t stuck—injured to such a severe degree that the arm and hand will be “useless for life,” lawyers from Grant & Eisenhofer said.
“The hospital tried to argue that Naqah’s injury occurred before birth, in utero, despite the contemporaneous record by the defendant resident doctor that she had performed the fetal vertex rotation,” they added. “Because the injury occurred to Naqah’s posterior shoulder, it made the plaintiffs’ case harder to prove causation of injury.”
Minimal standards not met
Lake's family alleged that the medical care and treatment fell below the minimum standard of care for obstetricians in North Carolina and constituted negligence. They argued that the medical team failed to use all available and appropriate maneuvers to manage complications during the baby’s delivery.
A jury ultimately agreed.
“As a result of the defendants’ negligence, plaintiffs argued, Naqah experienced, and will continue to experience, physical and mental pain and suffering, disfigurement, disability, and permanent injuries,” lawyers for the plaintiffs stated.
The $18.2 million verdict comprised $2.2 million for measurable economic damage the family has suffered, as well as $16 million in punitive damages that WakeMed was ordered to pay as a result of the negligence.
However, a local report from the News & Observer stated that North Carolina has malpractice judgment caps, and as such the actual award to Lake and Browne is likely to be reduced substantially.
In a statement to the outlet, WakeMed simply said it remains “committed to providing a safe environment for patients to receive care and for future generations of health care providers to learn,” pointing out that the lawsuit named three other defendants from the hospital, none of whom were found to have acted negligently.
It’s unclear if and when the hospital will file its appeal of the jury award.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.