$34 Million Birth Injury Verdict: On March 28, 2023, a Baltimore County Maryland medical malpractice jury returned its verdict in favor of the plaintiffs in the amount of nearly $34 million for the catastrophic injuries suffered by a baby who allegedly was unnecessarily delivered at 23 weeks of pregnancy without the mother’s consent. The jury’s verdict will be reduced to $25.2 million due to the cap on noneconomic damages in Maryland medical malpractice cases.
The plaintiff, Tara Anderson, alleged in her Maryland medical malpractice complaint that she was misdiagnosed with preterm labor and fetal distress when she arrived at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center on December 13, 2018, complaining of lower abdominal cramping and back pain. The plaintiff alleged that results of medical tests showed that there were no signs of labor or placental abruption: “Indeed, the operative note indicates that the patient had no further documented contractions after her admission to the labor and delivery floor. It is not uncommon for a patient with a cervical insufficiency to experience back pain, abdominal cramps or Braxton-Hicks-like contractions/uterine irritability. Such a presentation, however, is not to be confused with actual contractions or premature labor.”
After four hours of jury deliberations following a two-week trial, the Maryland medical malpractice jury determined that the defendant hospital and the attending physician were medically negligent and had failed to obtain the plaintiff’s informed consent for the emergency C-section.
The jury awarded the plaintiffs $20 million for the child’s future medical expenses, $3 million for his lost earning capacity, $915,000 for past medical expenses, and $10 million for the plaintiffs’ pain and suffering, which will be reduced to approximately $1.3 million due to Maryland’s noneconomic damages cap.
The defendant hospital issued a statement after the verdict: “At the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center, our goal is always to ensure the delivery of safe, quality care for all of our patients and we stand strongly behind the care rendered by our team during a very challenging medical emergency. With serious medical complications putting the mother and baby’s lives in danger, including life-threatening placental abruption and pre-term labor, there was no reasonable option other than to deliver Ethan at 23 weeks gestation. Absent the heroic efforts of our team that day, Ethan would not have survived. We respect the jury’s verdict but are disappointed in their decision.”
The Maryland birth injury medical malpractice case was captioned Baltimore County Circuit Court as Tara Anderson and Olijah Anderson v. University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center LLC et al., No. C-03-cv-21-000577.
If you or your baby suffered a birth injury (or worse) during labor and/or delivery in Maryland or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a birth injury lawyer in Maryland or in your state who may investigate your birth injury claim for you and represent you and your child in a birth injury medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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