WLKY News, from Louisville Kentucky, has joined other news sites to report that a mother, whose baby died due to "decapitation" during delivery, has received almost $1.4 million in damages in a medical malpractice lawsuit.
The incident occurred in 2006 at Norton Suburban Hospital, and the hospital was since cleared of any wrongdoing in the case.
M.D. had requested damages totaling $28 million - $10 million for punitive and $15 million for pain and trauma.
Mark Mathys, one of the attorneys representing M.D., said, "I think this is a vindication for (M.D.) and all that she went through."
While M.D. was in premature labor - at 21 weeks - her baby's head was decapitated during the delivery.
Two Norton Suburban doctors were named in the suit.
Another attorney for M.D., Larry Jones, said, "We think that justice was served here today. The jury found in favor of (M.D.) and found that these doctors did not deliver the standard of care that's required of doctors in this community."
Mathys added, "One point four million dollars is a significant amount of money, which shows the harm that she had suffered."
T.L., a nurse present during the baby's delivery that was directly involved in trying to save his life, said, "It was just an emotional case, period. You work as hard as you can every day to do the best you can, and I felt like we did do the best we could. I feel for Ms. (M.D.), too. I have since day one. It was a very difficult case for everybody."
In speaking for M.D., who was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read, Mathys said, "More importantly, it brings the funds that she needs to get the help that she really desperately needs at this point. She has post-traumatic stress disorder. This suffering has changed her life. The vivid nightmares - it's bad enough she saw her child decapitated."
The two doctors named in the suit, for failure to treat their patient, are Dr. J.B. and Dr. W.K.
Mathys told the court that the two doctors made an error by their improper insertion of a cerclage - a string-like device that is used to loop around the cervix to prevent premature delivery.
Mathys argued that when the doctors tried to remove the device - improperly - it caused M.D. to go into spontaneous labor, and the cerclage formed the "noose" around the baby's head.
Also noted was the doctor's failure to provide patient standard of care, to monitor high-risk M.D. on an hourly basis, give her the medication needed to prevent a premature labor and, lastly, to drape M.D. so that she would not have a view of the delivery, and the decapitation of her baby.
In closing, Mathys said that the child "would have been 5 by now. He would have had his first tooth. His parents would have seen him smile, and he would have taken his first steps."
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