The largest Tennessee medical malpractice verdict was a May 2024 Davidson County jury’s award of almost $47 million ($46,993,500) for now five-year-old Vivian Boughton, who suffered irreversible brain injuries as a result of the failure of a hospital to timely deliver her in 2018.
Vivian’s mother, Cayce Boughton, was admitted to Ascension St. Thomas Hospital Midtown around 4 p.m. on September 29, 2018 and was transferred to the Labor and Delivery unit around 7:35 p.m. Sometime after midnight, the baby was found to be in fetal distress but the medical staff failed to take timely and appropriate action that resulted in Vivian being born lifeless, limp, gray in color, and not breathing when she was finally delivered at 9:18 a.m., according to the Tennessee birth injury medical malpractice lawsuit.
Vivian was found to have suffered hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and was subsequently tranferred from the NICU to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Vivian suffered cerebral palsy, developmental delays, and epilepsy as a result of the lack of oxygen to her brain during labor and delivery.
The Tennessee medical malpractice jury determined that two St. Thomas nurses were liable for 75% of Vivian’s injuries and that Dr. Sa Cara Shaw, whio settled the claims against her before trial, was 25% liable for Vivian’s injuries. St. Thomas is therefore liable for just over $35 million. However, Tennessee’s cap on damages in medical malpractice cases will susbtantially reduce the amount awarded.
Because Dr. Shaw settled the claims against her before trial, she will not be responsble for paying any portion of the verdict. Shaw’s defense attorney stated after the verdict that his client denied that she caused any injuries to Vivian: “Dr. Shaw secured multiple experts in her defense with decades of experience, each of whom was prepared to testify the care she provided to Mrs. Boughton and her daughter was appropriate and complied with the standard of care. Dr. Shaw’s presence on the verdict form was only the result of a comparative fault defense by the hospital and does not constitute a judgment against Dr. Shaw.”
Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown states on its website: “Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown in Nashville, Tennessee, provides 24/7 comprehensive healthcare services, including emergency care for life-threatening injuries and illnesses. Our dedicated care teams prioritize listening to your health needs, ensuring personalized care that’s right for you. We provide specialty services, such as heart and vascular care, orthopedics, cancer care, maternal-fetal medicine, and breast health.”
If you or your baby suffered a birth injury (or worse) during labor and/or delivery in Tennessee or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Tennessee birth injury lawyer, or a birth injury lawyer 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.
Click on the “Contact Us Now” tab to the right, visit our website, or call us toll-free in the United States at 800-295-3959 to find birth injury attorneys in your state who may assist you.
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