$7.5 Million Award in Misread Fetal Test / Birth Injury Case

$7.5 Million Award in Misread Fetal Test / Birth Injury Case

On November 21, 2013, a Middlesex County judge approved a settlement of $7.5 million in favor of the family of a child born cerebral palsy. The child was deprived of oxygen during the hour between the time a monitor showed his heart rate drop and his birth by Caesarean section. The attending medical staff misread the monitor reading, believing it resulted from a spinal epidural, when in fact the mother's uterus had ruptured. The child now has spastic quadriplegia, needs a respirator and feeding tube, cannot speak and requires 24-hour care.  The settlement of the case was reached at pre-trial mediation.