$3.4 Million settlement in obstetric malpractice case

March, 2004

After the jury had been selected and trial was ready to begin, Feldman Shepherd attorneys Daniel S. Weinstock, Daniel J. Mann and Riki R. Redente secured a $3.4 million settlement for a 13 year old girl as a result of a delay in her delivery in 1990. The settlement agreement does not permit the names of the parties to be disclosed.

The child’s mother presented to the defendant hospital in labor at 1:30 a.m. Because of abnormalities in the electronic fetal monitoring strips, Feldman Shepherd attorneys asserted an emergency caesarean section should have been performed, with delivery no later than 2:15 a.m. Due to the alleged negligence of medical residents and nurses, there was a delay of approximately 90 minutes in the performance of caesarean delivery.

Thankfully the child’s brain damage did not cause cerebral palsy or other motor (movement) disorders. However, she does suffer from developmental delay. Pennsylvania’s “Minor’s Tolling Act” provides that the normal two year statute of limitations, which would ordinarily extinguish a victim’s rights two years after the date of the injury, does not apply to children. This rule allowed the child to start the lawsuit at age 10, even though her family had not considered litigation when she was an infant.

The settlement is expected to provide lifelong financial security for this 13 year old child.