Feb 15, 2009

South Carolina Jury Awards $4.4 Million in Birth Injury

ROCK HILL, S.C., Feb. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- A York County jury on Friday awarded $4.4 million to the parents of a child who suffered a brain injury at birth. The award was against Piedmont Hospital.

The jury said the hospital was at fault when it assigned a nurse trainee to monitor a woman, who arrived three days before her scheduled induction with nausea and vomiting. The nurse misread fetal heart monitoring data showing the baby was in dire distress and needed emergency intervention, according to the plaintiffs.

The baby was born with severe brain injury due to oxygen deprivation and later developed Cerebral Palsy. She died of complications from cerebral palsy, exactly one year, to the day, of the verdict.

"When medical professionals fail to meet reasonable standards of care they need to be held accountable, and the jury agreed with that," said Ken Suggs, of Janet, Jenner & Suggs, Columbia, S.C., attorney for the couple.