PA Hospital to Pay $78 Million in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania jury awarded a mother and her daughter $78 million against the Pottstown Memorial Medical Center in a medical malpractice lawsuit filed after a baby girl was born with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy due to being oxygen during her birth.

In 2008, the mother was at the Pottstown hospital when an obstetrician was unable to find her baby’s heartbeat during an ultrasound. Though the mother said she could feel the baby kicking, the obstetrician said the baby was dead. The mother waited over an hour for a technician to come to the hospital and perform another ultrasound with a newer machine. The technician found the baby’s heart beat and she was quickly delivered by C-section, however, she had been deprived of oxygen.

The jury found the obstetrician not guilty of medical malpractice, and the hospital was found fully responsible for the injuries to the baby because of outdated and unserviced equipment, as well as for failing to have a technician on site.

The jury awarded the $78 million for pain and suffering endured by mother and child, as well to help cover the costs of the lifetime of care the child will require.

 

That's just excessive. How is 78 million dollars even going to change anything?..

 

Consider that oxygen deprivation probably means the child lost a good part of it's brain function and therefore will be mentally handicapped. The 78m is supposed to help with care for the rest of the child's life.

 

ITT: People replying to spam bots.

 

Oh yah.. didn't notice that.
Edited the link out anyway.

 

lets just hope 78M will not make her become a greedy ass mother and a gambling addict and she'll use the money for the right reasons for her child.

 

Lets get serious, there's no way a life time of supporting even a handicapped person is going to cost 78 million dollars, or anywhere close. If the child was exposed to even the best care I couldn't seeing it running more than 30 million dollars.

 

Retire early much lololo.

 

Wow. $78 million is still a shitload of cash, even if it is supposed to cover somebodies medical bills for the entire duration of their lives. Not really worth the price of having a handicapped child though.. I would rather have normal, healthy children than get paid.

 

78 million though?
What happened was bad but that's just too much money.