Settlement Reached in Brain Injury Case Involving a Virginia Hospital

The Justice Department agreed to pay $2.3 million to a couple whose young child suffered a serious brain injury at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, VA, according to The Virginian-Pilot.  A federal judge approved the settlement in January 2011.

In 2006, the child's mother, 35 weeks pregnant, checked into the Virginia hospital with severe cramping in her lower abdomen. The hospital moved the mother to a triage room and connected her to a fetal heart monitor, which showed abnormalities indicating the fetus was under stress. Instead of notifying a doctor, the staff allegedly left the mother for more than an hour without help.

Over two hours went by before doctors performed an emergency cesarean section (i.e. c-section). The doctors determined the placenta detached from the uterine wall causing oxygen loss to the fetus.  The child was born pale and limp, with respiratory failure and a slow heart rate, causing extensive, severe, and permanent brain injuries.   

A settlement was reached with $54,000 going towards medical bills and $1.57 million going into a trust fund set up for the child. The government admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement and denied any medical malpractice. 

To learn more about medical malpractice/doctor mistakes, check out our Frequently Asked Questions devoted to the subject. Our VA medical malpractice lawyers wrote a free consumer report providing a list of tips for victims who were hurt by a doctor's carelessness. Feel free to download it here.

For more information about case results involving our VA brain injury attorneys, see our 60 million dollar verdict report a jury returned in 2000 relating to brain and orthopedic injuries to a gas station worker as a result of  railroad train derailment in Northern Virginia