$1.2 Million settlement in obstetric malpractice case

September, 2003

In a confidential settlement reached just before trial was scheduled to begin, Feldman Shepherd attorney Daniel S. Weinstock secured a $1.2 million settlement on behalf of a child with mild cerebral palsy in an obstetric malpractice case.

The child’s mother went into labor at 28 weeks’ gestation (three months premature), with signs of infection in the uterus. The labor was complicated by a placental abruption, which is a medical condition in which the placenta tears away from the uterus, causing blood loss. Mr. Weinstock contended that in light of signs of placental abruption that were present, an emergency caesarean section should have been ordered several minutes earlier, and that the delay substantially increased the baby’s chances of developing neurologic complications such as cerebral palsy.