Mom and Dad called us when their daughter was 2½ years old. She was their first child. Their daughter had been failing to meet expected developmental milestones. She was having difficulty with speech and sitting up, and her pediatrician was noticing other physical limitations that were delaying her development. Mom and Dad knew the birth of their daughter had been difficult. There were a lot of doctors involved in the labor and delivery, with many nurses in and out of the room, and then, after the delivery, a neonatologist became involved in their daughter’s care and treatment.
Their daughter began to exhibit symptoms only days after birth, and she required specialized care at another hospital. Her health seemed to stabilize a bit, but she still experienced recurring issues that required specialized medical treatments during her first two years. By the time Mom and Dad called us, the delays in their daughter’s development had become more obvious, and they couldn’t help but recall all the commotion in the delivery room the day she was born, and they grew suspicious that something may have gone wrong. They called us hoping for clarity, and some answers.
Dad signed medical authorizations, which permitted us to gather all of the labor-and-delivery records and records from the doctors who had treated their daughter in the first two years of her life. We reviewed all of the medical records internally and then consulted with numerous highly- qualified and nationally renowned experts in the fields of obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), pediatric neurology, and neonatology. It became clear through our investigation that the parents’ suspicions were valid. Clear and indefensible mistakes had been made by the doctors responsible for protecting their daughter from injury during labor and delivery.
We reported this unfortunate news and our experts’ opinions to the parents. They were devastated. The only thing worse than having a daughter who has been profoundly and permanently injured is to learn that it shouldn’t have happened at all — and that it wouldn’t have happened if the doctors had done their jobs. We filed a lawsuit, and lawyers in our firm questioned the doctors under oath.
All aspects of the damages (pain and suffering, lost wages, necessary medical expenses, etc.) were investigated and developed with the assistance of accomplished economic experts. Eventually, months before the case was scheduled for trial, the defendant-doctors’ insurance carriers contacted us to discuss a monetary settlement of the case. With the assistance of a settlement mediator, the doctors’ insurance carriers agreed to pay enough money to provide high-level medical care and other financial protections for our client’s daughters for the remainder of their lives.
The case settled for a sum that will ensure that Mom and Dad can provide the very best possible medical care and assistance for their daughter, even long after they are too old to care for her themselves. The case on behalf of this little girl was incredibly complex. However, our extensive experience in these types of cases enabled us to elicit the support of sophisticated and renowned medical experts to build the strongest case possible. We are immensely proud of the result we were able to obtain for this little girl and her family. Their words of thanks serve as the motivation for everything we do each and every day for families like theirs.
