$1 Million Settlement for Hypoxic Brain Injury at Birth

A $1 million settlement, representing the full available liability policy, was obtained by Blume Donnelly partner John Blume on behalf of a four-and-one-half-year-old girl who suffered hypoxic brain injury at birth due to a delay in the performance of a cesarean section delivery for fetal distress. The fetal distress, which was evident on fetal heart monitor strip tracings, occurred because the oxygen flow from the mother to child was diminished when the mother’s uterus began to rupture. Despite obvious signs of fetal distress based upon the non-reassuring fetal heart tracings, the physician delayed delivery by attempting a vacuum extraction delivery, which failed, instead of proceeding directly to an emergency c-section.