Johns Hopkins Bayview Hit With A Largest Verdict of $229M

Johns Hopkins Bayview Hit With A Largest Verdict of $229M

Introduction

Baltimore jury awarded $229 million to the plaintiff and her daughter in the verdict against John Hopkins Bayview Medical Center for brain damage that resulted from misdiagnosis of preeclampsia during labor and delivery. 

Plaintiff was 25 weeks pregnant when she got admitted to Hopkins Bayview Medical Center after showing signs of severe preeclampsia. Doctors told her that the baby was viable outside the womb, but the baby would die or be severely brain-damaged if she undergoes the cesarean section in the delivery. The plaintiff indicated that she declined a C-section procedure based on doctors’ recommendations.

The allegations raised at trial stated that the doctors' recommendations were incorrect, and as she did not go through a c-section delivery, her daughter suffered oxygen deprivation which led to brain damage and cerebral palsy. The $229 million jury verdict is one of the largest verdict medical malpractice lawsuits.

On May 15, 2019, a Suffolk County jury settled a $30.6 million medical malpractice lawsuit that alleged the defendants, Cross Country Staffing of negligence in the medical process that resulted in brain injury to the newborn. The incident took place in January 2013 when the parents of the injured child rushed to the hospital as the mother was pregnant and required urgent medical treatment. The lawyer for the plaintiffs said that the kid was not breathing and had almost no heartbeat during his birth. The neck of the child was wrapped in the umbilical cord of the mother that resulted in severe brain injuries to the baby.