Case Results

Our client was a previously healthy three week old baby boy whose parents brought him to a local emergency room after he would not stop crying. Even though the ER was virtually empty, the baby was not evaluated by a doctor for over two hours and then, signs of possible bacterial meningitis, a highly dangerous and frequently deadly infection, were not immediately recognized. Even after being seen by the doctor, a lumbar puncture was not performed until about four hours later and antibiotics were not administered until about an hour after that. The defendants argued that this five or six hour delay had no effect on the child’s outcome, as the child was already sick at the time he came to the hospital. We argued that under these circumstances, the standards of care required immediate antibiotics which would have given the child an opportunity for a better outcome and less severe disabilities. As a result of the meningitis, the child suffered multiple neurological and cognitive impairments, including a near total loss of vision. The case was settled for $4,825,000, which will ultimately yield much more because some of the funds are being invested in structured settlements.