Huge Settlement in Birth Injury Case

A $78.5 million verdict was recently obtained by Philadelphia lawyers G. Scott Vezina and Daniel S. Weinstock on behalf of a child with brain damage caused by medical malpractice.

The child, Parrys Nicholson-Upsey, is now three years old and suffers from sever spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. This condition is a direct result of an 81-minute delay during an emergency C-section delivery. The case went to trial on April 13, 2012 and ended in this massive jury verdict. The award for damages includes money to pay for future medical care, lost lifetime earnings, pain and suffering for the child, and emotional distress for the family.

Problems at the hospital

According to Weinstock, the C-section delivery was delayed because the obstetrician thought that the baby was dead. The OB was using outdated ultrasound equipment provided by the Pottstown Memorial Medical Center. No birth injury attorney  had filed a lawsuit yet, or the hospital would have had better, properly maintained equipment.

Victoria Upsey, the child’s mother, presented with signs of a placental abruption. The doctor used the antiquated ultrasound equipment, admitted by the hospital’s Risk Manager not to have been serviced for over ten years, to check for signs of life from the baby. The faulty equipment indicated that the child was dead. According to the machine’s manual, annual maintenance was necessary to ensure proper functioning.

Conclusion

For his part, the obstetrician steadfastly maintained that he was not at fault. Attorneys Vezina and Weinstock contended that the malpractice occurred on the part of the hospital administration for failing to keep the equipment up to date and for failing to have an ultrasound technician present in the hospital.

In a statement, Vezina said that no amount of money can make the family’s life whole again, nor will any amount of money fix the child’s condition. However, he said that he is pleased to have obtained lifetime support for the child and the family. “No parent should have to go through this ordeal,” Vezina said.