Childbirth Medical Malpractice

 Posted on May 28, 2008 in Medical Malpractice

Documents filed this week in an Ohio court revealed that lawyers for the Cleveland Clinic and the mother of a brain-damaged child settled a medical malpractice lawsuit on May 1 for $10 million. Apparently, a jury heard the two-week trial and reached a $15.9 million verdict, but the lawyers settled the case before the verdict form was signed. Part of the settlement called for the verdict forms to remain sealed, but the verdict papers were placed into the public case file by accident, revealing the jury’s award, which would have been one of the largest verdicts ever in Ohio. A copy of the article regarding the settlement can be found here.

What is interesting here is that the defense apparently tried to keep the verdict secret but failed. Typically, health care defendants and health care insurers like to keep such verdicts quiet so as not to encourage other cases.

As I have said before, cases involving permanent injuries to children are some of the most difficult cases that Maryland and District of Columbia medical malpractice attorneys pursue because they usually involve multiple expert witnesses, such as obstetricians, neonatologists, pediatric neurologists, placental pathologists, life care planners and economists. This makes them extremely time-consuming and expensive to pursue. Nevertheless, these cases are extremely important to pursue, so that compensation can be obtained for the parents and child, in order to provide the child with best medical and other care that the child can have, so as to maximize the child’s abilities and comfort. Nothing is more important.