Medical Malpractice & Personal Injury Law » Medical Malpractice

Large Connecticut Verdict in Erb’s Palsy Childbirth Injury

webmaster — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 06:02:57 +0000

A Hartform Superior Court on Tuesday awarded a $2.69 million award to a mother and her 4-year-old son, determining an obstetrician was liable for nerve injuries the child suffered during child birth. This may be the largest medical malpractice verdict in Connecticut for this type of childbirth injury.

As a result of nerve injury suffered during delivery, the child now is unable to raise his right hand over his head. He has contractures at the elbow and shoulder joint, not being able to be fully straightened. This type of nerve injury is referred to as Erb’s Palsy.

The lawsuit was based on the premise that the obstetrician failed to properly assess that the mother had a small pelvis, failed to properly assess the pre-birth size of the fetus, and used a vacuum extractor rather than performing a Caesarean section when the baby become lodged.

The Super Court Judge added an addition $800,000 to the award in interest as the obstetrician had rejected a $1 million offer for settlement two years earlier. The total award is listed at $3.49 million.

Medical Malpractice Insurance Rates Dropping in Illinois

webmaster — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 01:36:51 +0000

Governor Blagojevich is taking at least partial credit for what appears to be a major drop in medical malpractice insurance rates for Illinois Physicians. According to a press release on the State of Illinois website, Medpro is reducing medical malpractice insurance premiums by 32 percent across the state.

Illinois reforms over the past year increased publicly accessible information from insurance companies, including rate-related information and loss and claims-related data. As a result, insurance companies are lowering their premium rates to be competitive with other companies.

While the Governor claims this is leading to increased recruitment and retention of physicians, time will tell if these reforms are in fact meaningful.

Jury Award for Incorrect HIV Diagnosis Thrown Out

webmaster — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 23:10:47 +0000

On October 12, 2006, a state appeals court threw out a jury award of $350,000. A Chicago man had attempted to recover claimed damages for being incorrectly diagnosed as HIV positive. The original jury award was for $350,000. In a possible precedent setting case in Illinois, the 1st District Appellate Court in Chicago decided in a 2-1 questioned whether the plaintiff could collect damages in this type of case, where the misdiagnoses did not cause physical injury. The initial claim of damages was for emotional injury caused by the incorrect diagnosis.

The court also determined that there were other issues that occurred in the initial trial in 2003 which were grounds for the defendent to have a new trial.

The plaintiff plans to appeal the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court.