The woman was told she should have a “c” section, was told she had a narrow pelvic arch, but went ahead with natural child birth. She chose to have natural birth and she chose the outcome. Now she can’t live with the guilt unless she blames someone else and makes them pay for her mistake.

The story leaves out that the doctors were telling her all along to have a c section. But, they couldn’t force her. She finally agreed after 13 hours, and it’s their fault? If I was the doctor, I would have refused to deliver her baby.

The doctors organization Group Health Associates says Dr. Lisa Yang “did everything medically possible to facilitate a healthy delivery.”- sounds like she didn’t do “everything” that SHOULD have been done! THIRTEEN HOURS in the birth canal?! Are you kidding me? Common sense says get the baby out in an hour of not coming through the canal? Some doctors…you just never know!

yet another reason HealthCare is so high…faulty lawsuits!!!

Great - this will result in another avalanche of already epidemic cesarean rates. I have seen 12-pound babies delivered by tiny moms with no problems. And most women who are told they have a small pelvis have an incompetent doctor - it is only when a woman is lying down in bed, strapped to machines and unable to move that the pelvis is too cramped for a normal birth. Suits like this will not help change the current obstetrical practices for the better, only make it all that much worse.

I have a special-needs child and there is help available to take care of her, I didn’t have to sue a doctor to make sure she has the care she needs. People need to look at the bigger picture and quit expecting perfect outcomes - it will involve a cultural change on a fundamental level (and will be helped tremendously when doctors quit acting like they are G-d and encouraging their patients to go along with that view).

This is an unfortunate incident, and I feel bad for the daughter who has to go through life like this. however this situation is just more cause for doctors to simply perform C sections and natural birth to become the lesser alternative, to avoid such pricy rulings in the future. What we need a a cap on damages and a law that requires the loser of a suit to pay the legal expenses of the plaintiff. It’s not the doctors paying this, but their insurance, via fees passed on to all patients. All patients are not responsible for this woman’s faulty anatomy, nor the series of bad decisions by the doctors. A more reasonable fine ($5,000-$10,000) payable directly by the doctor from his own bank account or a temporary suspension of his license may have been in order. No amount of money can make the girl better. Such large “REWARDS” for accidents and lapses in judgment make the rest of us have to suffer due to the high cost of medical insurance and medical care.

It really blows my mind how doctors let a women go that far knowing that she has a narrowed birth canal. Im happy for that women that received that 20 mil. and i hope everyone knows how those doctors scrued up that delivery so badly that it affected this child so badly. My prayers are with this family!

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW EXACTLY SHE DID THIS!! I HAVE A CHILD THAT HAD A STROKE AT BIRTH B/C THE STUPID NURSE WOULD NOT CALL THE DOCTOR AND KEPT TRYING TO REACH IN AND TURN MY BABIES HEAD TO MAKE HER CROWN! AFTER MY DOCTOR GOT THERE HE SAID THAT I COULD NOT HAVE HER B/C IT WOULD BREAK HER SHOULDERS B/C SHE WAS SO BIG………MY DAUGHTER NOW IS ABOUT TO BE 9 YEARS OLD AND IS HANDICAPPED AND GOES TO A SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOOL…

The same thing happened to me. My son was 9 pounds, I am small 5 ft. tall. The Doctors of Kaiser Permanente kept telling me I could have this baby no problem, because I had one other vaginal delivery, but also had difficulty with that one. I told them repeatedtly that I was afraid because I always have large babies. I had one C section. They were adamant that I could have a V_BACK is what they call it, even though I was small and also 41 years old.

My son got stuck with his head out and his shoulders would not deliver. He quit breathing and was blue when he was finally delivered.

HIs one minute APGAR score was 2 out of 9 , he was barely alive. In order to get him out , the nurses were literally sitting on my stomach and pulling my legs up over my ears, it was too late for a C-section. It is all about money. C-sections cost more, so they try not to perform them.

My son is now almost 11 and is healthy, but does have some learning disabilities and motor skills issues.

Great, now because some lady has a small pelvis and likely a brain to match, we can look forward to health care costs continuing to rise. I fail to see how this should be called a fault of the doctor. Maybe she should have sued the prenatal vitamin company for helping to grow a nice big baby. Or, her parents for giving her the small pelvis. We must blame someone. Even if there was an error on the doctor’s behalf, 20 million, please!

I just read the comments on this suit. For starters, this amount will be appealed and the woman may never even see any of it.
Secondly, women are duped into believing that if they do not have a child “naturally” (vaginally) then they are less of a woman. If this was her first, i could see how she may have wanted to try a vaginal, although, I thought the general guideline was no more than an hour , 2 at the most in the birth canal!
And last of all, some Doctors may be mandated by their HMO, I know Kaiser is, to discourage c sections and long hospital stays. I worked at a hospital here in ATlanta and I overheard a Dr. telling a nurse that the Mother HAD to go home that day, the nurse was telling the Dr. that the baby had to stay because she was not gaining weight and they wanted Mom to stay to keep breastfeeding her at least another day. The Dr. was yelling at her and SAID , NO> He was a Kaiser Permanente Dr. (I am sure that will be edited out).

The same thing happened to my son but he was not in there for thirteen hours.

Got to love it….

This woman ignored the advice of her doctors and went with natural delivery, then wants to blame everyone but herself. You know what? Child bearing is not without risk….there is never a guarantee of a perfect baby. Women have been giving birth since the dawn of man and for 99.9% of that time, there was no doctor to sue….or stupid juries for that matter. Was John Edwards (the ambulance chaser) her attorney?

There is already a shortage of doctors in this country, especially in OB/GYN…and for good reason. They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Got to love it….

This woman ignored the advice of her doctors and went with natural delivery, then wants to blame everyone but herself. You know what? Child bearing is not without risk….there is never a guarantee of a perfect baby. Women have been giving birth since the dawn of man and for 99.9% of that time, there was no doctor to sue….or stupid juries for that matter. Was John Edwards (the ambulance chaser) her attorney?

There is already a shortage of doctors in this country, especially in OB/GYN…and for good reason.

As a former Labor and Delivery nurse, Im trying desperately to figure out what your talking about. “stuck in the birth canal for 13 hours”? “Tried to push it through?” who edits these things??????????? For God sake, at least have a nurse or doctor translate for you. The visual this creates for people is just bizarre. Its impossible to know what really happened and who, if anyone, was at fault without reading the patient’s chart and talking to the parties involved. Another piece of half-witted, half-baked Fox “journalism.”

If the doctor had broken a $20 million vase, or ruined a Van Gogh painting worth that much, no one would blink an eye about making him pay for what he broke. But because it is a child, who will need special care for the rest of her ruined life, the doctor is not supposed to pay for his mistake? Somehow this poor child has been “rewarded?” Do you think the doctor’s lawyers did not point out all of the defenses to the case to the jury? We trust juries to sentence criminals to death, I think we can trust them with our money, or is money more important than human life?

This is the first I have heard of this story but if she was advised of the risk and decided to try natural childbirth the doctor should not be held responsible. I pushed with my daughter for 30 min and she was stuck. There was no hesitation in my mind to have a c-sect.

I HOPE this lady did not think she would be any less of a woman or mother for not have a “natural delivery”, as some women do, because I do not feel any less of a woman or mother for having a c-section.

Having said that, my heart does go out to her for the experience and the issues her daughter is now facing.

my daughter was 4 pounds at birth. they induced me because she was so small. about 8 hours into the induction i notice strange pressure in my hips and i paged the nurse over and over and over and they kept telling me i was fine. after an hour, the nurse finally checked me and saw my daughter was crowning. the cord was around her neck. she sat in my birth canal for an hour strangling, before they finally realized that things were not so good. she was not breathing when she was born, and she was gray, and she was a 2 on the AGPAR scale. she is a miracle baby simply cause she survived with no brain damage. so while you are critisizing this women for suing, take into consideration that you can only ASSUME that the doctors told her anything. you dont know and for all you know her doctor happened to be an idiot. i only say this becuase the OB team that delivered my baby girl almost killed her, simply becuase they didn’t feel like getting off their butts to check on things when i grew concerned.

Another huge payout….another huge paycheck for the attorneys. One day these attonrneys will need medical attention. I wouldn’t blame the doctors for refusing to treat them. They are sucking the life out of the medical community.

So does the $20 Mil give the child full use of her limbs or full brain function?

If things continue as they are, there simply won’t be any ob/gyn’s in the country soon. They have the WORST hours, poor pay, and the WORST malpractice (compared to other docs). Fewer medical students are going into ob/gyn residencies and practice because of events like this. Coming from a DO school (one that specalizes in primary care of which ob/gyn’s are considered), I can tell you that out of our class of 72 people, only 1 is really considering becoming an ob/gyn.

Yeah…I see it now..there is a critical situation where both the mother and baby’s life is at risk and the MDs are just twittling their thumbs. The majority of the reason people go into medicene is because the want to help people not to cause more harm. Medicence is not an exact science so until you are qualified to stand in there shoes don’t prentend to understand their decisions.

here goes the price of health care even higher. One gets rich and the rest of us pay thru the nose because of it.

There are so many details left out of this story there is NO way to make a call on what SHOULD have happened.
First of all, the wording is misleading because they baby doesn’t enter the “birth canal” until it’s time to push and there is NO way she was pusing for 13 hours. If they meant the c-section wasn’t done until 13 hours into the labor that’s a totally different situation and doesn’t mean anything at all.
Secondly, for all we know she HAD been asking for a c-section at some point in the labor and was urged to try vaginally.
Thirdly, it doesn’t mention if forceps were used which themselves could have caused the injuries.

C-sections for suspected big baby are NOT approved by ACOG (American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology) because you cannot accurately estimate fetal weight and because c-sections are riskier to mother AND baby. C-sections are lifesaving when used appropriately but having a c-section because someone thinks the baby will be big do not fall into that category.

Quite simply, a mother will rarely grow a baby too big to deliver vaginally. If it were common then God/mother nature really screwed up and that’s not likely. Plenty of small women deliver babies up to 12 pounds quite easily. I delivered between a 9-10 pounder after a 3 hour labor and pushing time of 5 minutes. I’m 5′4″ and about 130 normally. We’re not certain on the weight because I had a homebirth and the midwife forgot her scale so we had to use 2 less accurate scales that both weighed her differently.

I just see a lot of comments here that are obviously from people who know very little about birth and assume that a c-section will always save the day. If that were the case the US wouldn’t be condemned for it’s extremely high c-section rate (30%) and dismal maternal and infant mortality rates. Saying a doctor SHOULD have performed a c-section any time something goes wrong with birth only makes it harder for the next woman to acheive the vaginal birth she wants because the OB will be scared to death and will intervene at the drop of a hat. That’s not the birthing environment that safest for women and babies so let’s not perpetuate it.

Ah yes.. lawyer did well. Doctor paying more for insurance. Doctor raising rates. Doctor turning risky patients away. And mother taking long vacation in Hawaii “recovering”.

As the mother of three, I speak from experience.
This woman had been given the appropriate medical advice but she decided the trophy of her labor story was more important than the advice of professionals…that’s her unfortunate decision and she is the ONLY one in charge of her labor.

Women need understand they not only have an active participation in their pregnancies but an active RESPONSIBILITY. Doctors and nurses are only there as guidance and stand-by medical staff.

C-Sections are not to be used as a luxury, but if they can stop mental retardation and infant deaths, then it needs to be a real option held above the ego of these mothers.

Why should she get millions for her doctors inability to force her to have a c-section??? zero sense?

If this lady was given the opinion that having a c-section was the best option and yet opted to try for a natural birth; then the responsibility rests on her.

But then there is a catch 22… of allowing her to have a say in the medical process… but then the staff should have known better then to leave the baby for that long. If it was found that she had a narrow birth canal before delivery, the choice of how to deliver should have been made long before going into labor. If the doctor truly believed C-section was the best option, she should have refused to allow the patient to try a natural birth.

I think there are probably some details that were left out of the article… seemed written in the view that the medical staff was wrong anyway.

Perhaps what doctors and hospitals should do is have their recommendations on treatments or procedures in writing and if the patient refuses this treatment or procedure it is up to them to sign a waiver releasing the staff and doctor from liability.

It’s true no baby born is guaranteed to be perfectly healthy… we can only pray they are.

As usual, there’s more to the story: “During delivery, Cassie became stuck for hours but her doctors continued to give Heather drugs to keep her uterus contracting.” Source: http://lansing.injuryboard.com/head-and-brain-injuries/birth-trauma-results-in-226-million-jury-award.aspx?googleid=239868

wow.. 13 hrs?!?!? i don’t quite understand how the dr’s let it go that long.. i have read all the comments and can certainly see both sides of the coin. yes, healthcare costs are rising due to faulty accusations and lawsuits, but with the lack of healthcare providers and them working more hours, there are also more mistakes… people need to be on top of their own healthcare (and healthcare insurance, meaning, actually get some) and stop using emergency rooms and/or urgent cares for primary care physicians..
if during this delivery, this lady felt she wasn’t being properly treated or given accurate care, at anytime, she could have asked for a patient advocate/patient representative. every hospital has them 24/7, they are there to be a voice for the patient and listen to the patient’s concerns. i do feel bad, but there are two sides to the story. i know for a fact at most OBGYN clinics they have on-call schedules, was the doctor that delivered her - her actual doctor she worked with throughout her pregnancy and set up a delivery plan with? this story goes far beyond the lawsuit.

I am a nurse and so often I get upset over so many ridiculous lawsuits out there and many that people win large sums of money who never should have!! However, in this case, I say “Yeah!” Good for her!!! There is absolutely NO reason why that baby should have stayed like that for so long!!! She should have been taken immediately for a C Section!!! This is definitely a case of negligience in my opinion. 20 million may seem like a lot to us, however once everyone gets their piece of the pie and the taxes are paid, and when you deduct what has been spent so far in medical care and the cost of special day care…… well, it’s just rght.
I recently saw a woman walk away with a large chunk of change from a lawsuit against a hospital who a jury found to be liable for the death of her baby who had multiple anomalies. She sued for having to carry this baby instead of being able to have a partial birth abortion. The nerve!! And to make it worse, she got paid for that. It’s disgusting! It makes you have little faith in the justice system. So, it’s good to hear of legitimate cases as this is!

Four years ago my 9lbs 12.5 oz son was stuck in my birth canal for 4 hours. Luckily for us our child was born healthy and has no problems. What you don’t realize is that by the doctor not taking me in to get a C-section he caused my pelvis and tailbone to break. He also caused my pubis symphis joint to become so stretched out that 4 years later I still have problems and wind up in physical therapy for months trying to keep my pelvis and sacrum in place. After the birth of our son my husband had to pick me up and put me in bed in the tub anywhere I wanted to go that would cause my legs to be seperated. It was the worse thing that has ever happened to me.
My doctor could not admit that he did this to me and that’s what hurt the most. All I wanted was “I’m sorry” but saying sorry would be admitting that he did wrong. I never thought about suing b/c my child is healthy and I will deal with any amount of pain for him to be so. I do tell everyone I know what that Dr. did to me though.

1) People are not like cars. A 1991 Honda Accord is a 1991 Honda Accord EVERY time. Same alternator EVERY time. People are not. As a surgeon, I submit that each time I perform an operation with which I am well-trained and well-versed, it different every time. One person’s pelvis is shaped a little differently…a blood that exists in one person doesn’t in another, etc…it is a constantly dynamic state.

2) I agree with some of the other comments that mentioned “defensive medicine.” It becomes easier to practice in a manner to avoid a lawsuit than in a manner that may be most practical. Remember, the “standard of care” simply means that it’s the way most of your peers would practice - that’s all. So if most of your peers are doing C-sections, that’s the standard of care. Is that how we want it to work?

3) Do you really think that “oh, the doctor isn’t actually paying for the settlement so it doesn’t hurt him…?” I went to arguably one of the best known medical schools in the world. And in total it was about $220,000.00 to go there. I get reimbursed the same rate that the folks who went to less expensive and less well-known schools get. (2 bookshelves don’t cost the same, how come your sugery does?) The point is that it is our REPUTATIONS that drive much of the referrals and patient calls. Do you actually think that people in this community where the doctor lives are not going to see the scarlet “20 million dollar settlement” embroidered on her sweater? Her professional life is likely ruined. Even if she moves…

4) Something that most doctors wouldn’t openly admit: We want to help people, but not if we make $35000 a year. If I told you that a private practice OB/GYN in Southern Florida made $275000 a year it would sound not-too-bad for most non-physicians. But what if that same doctor’s MALPRACTICE INSURANCE was $250,000 per year? Fewer of “the best” are wanting to go into medicine. There are many reasons why…

My sister had a similar situation happen to her. She tried to deliver her daughter naturally, but her daughter ended up getting stuck in the birth canal. The doctor in her situation had enough common sense to do a “c” section immediatley. Today she is perfectly healthy with an IQ of 150. In all it took about 30 minutes not 13 hours. The doctor is this situation was nothing but a complete idiot. The doctor in this situation should have to pay 20 million out of her own pocket.

It really is tragic that this happened to this child. But, are there such things as “unfortunate incidents” and “accidents” any more? I am sure the doctor did not want for this to happen. So, why should there be a $20 mil payout? Medial malpractice is becoming over the top.

The woman deserves the money for her child. The ‘Doctor’s Org.’ says “‘the Dr. did everything to do the birth right”…………..WRONG!!! They should have done a hysterectomy as soon as they knew her pelvic was too small….even ordinary people know that!! Being a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, this infuriates me that they would be so stupid.

Prayers for the little girl….may her life get better as she gets older.

Diana

13 hours stuck in the birth canal and Group Health Associates says the doctor did everything possible? Not even maybe. The doctor should have taken action and she failed to do so. Obviously the jury feels the same way. When will doctors ever admit they make mistakes???

Way to go, Filthy Attorneys! Gee, if you really gave a crap about the womna, you wouldn’t take a dime, but I assume you greedy bastards will take the usual 1/3. Thanks for elevating our already high medical costs!

This is another example of attorneys going nuts with litigation awards. I will give them that it may have been negligence, but $20 million? Who does the jury think is going to pay for that? All deliveries have risk. This is what happens when you give trial attorneys this kind of power. It is definitley obscene. Actually I blame the idiots on the jury.

This is the reason I am having difficulty in finding a OB/GYN to perform my VBAC!!! We need to start taking control of our rights as patients, trusting our Doctors that they have the best course of action and also exercising our rights to seek a second opinion if we have questions.

One issue that was not mentioned, because it is not politically correct to mention it or conduct research on it, has to do with the genetics of the mother-to-baby size ratio. Prior to World War II, cultural preferences were different, such that it would have been statistically rare for a 5-foot tall mother to have a normal-term 9-pound-plus baby. Probabilistically, she would have had a 7-pound maybe 4 ounce baby, and it would have been likely that the father was 5′6″ or 5′8″.

However, today, due to a combination of factors, including cultural preferences (mate choice), improved nutrition and medical care, the ubiquity of growth hormones, and even IVF selection preferences, we are producing gigantic babies. We know that many unmarried juvenile girls are having babies in the top decile for size and weight because they biological father, whether there was criminal activity or not, are very large, tall, heavy men.

This trend toward increased litigation due to over-large babies should be informed by additional research on the causes and possibly some public education on the subject of mate choice.

although the amount i do believe is too high, it needs to be a good amount. If the child has brain damage, she will have to have lots of medical bills for the rest of her life.

So sad, and so unnecessary. There is no reason, in the country with the best health care in the world, that any baby should remain stuck in the birth canal. Doctors should be able to recognize fetal distress as well as whether or not the labor is progressing. The doctors who did this should lose their licenses.

The Dr. should have delivered this baby immediately by c-section. Very negligent.

“Another piece of half-witted, half-baked Fox “journalism.”

This was an Associated Press story - check your facts before casting your blame.

no, the 20 mil doesn’t make the child any better off, but it sure helps mom and dad “feel better” and more importantly- the Lawyers who make the cash off of the settlement and set the tone for future lawsuits of the same type….. This just makes me sick. When will it stop.

Without Obstetricians, which is where decisions like this are pushing us, the woman and child would have simply died.

This sad circumstance was at least partially due to an insurance industry that pushes doctors to make chepater financial decisions regarding procedures like C-sections rather than medical decisions that are safest for the mother and the baby. I had a similar circumstnace when my daughter was delivered years before 1997.. Iwas told that her head was too big for my pelvis. However, my physician made the right decision and scheduled a C-section. over the disagreement of my health insurance provider My daughter never had any issues and is healthy to this day, thank Heavens.

I am in a situation where I have been helplessly watching as my fiance’ has been mis diagnosed by the charlatans here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area as having GERD. She has become anorexic and has lost approximately 60 lbs. For some ome that is 5′3″” that is a lot! She had her gall bladder removed unnecessarily and is still unable to eat solid fooad as she has been since her oral surgery that took place June of last year. She is unable to taste anything also. I took her to an Immunologist who finally diagnosed her correctly as having Laryopharyngeal Reflux. Now the main symptom of this disorder is the feeling of a lump in the throat and acid liquid coming into the mouth when one is in the UPRIGHT position..NOT in the supine or LYING DOWN position as in GERD! Last September when she was admitted to thospital the first time we brought this to the attention of the G.I. Doctor that she was fine as long as she was lying down, her problem was when she was upright, but did they listen? OF COURSE NOT! Their egos were so large that they just wouldn’t listen! So, here we are…..ten months later, my fiance’ at 60 lbs less, still unable to taste, gall bladder unneccessarily removed, and finally after four admissions to two different hospitals, treatment by over eight doctors that didn’t have the decency to just shut up for about twenty seconds to listen to the patient for a change we finally find a young immunologist that has the common sense to practice one of the basic things that are taught in medical school…..”Listen to the patient. He/she, just by telling you what is ailing him/her will be giving you a reliable indication as to what the ailment truly is”.
One of the reasons, I feel that this problem exists, especially here in Texas is eause of the all Infamous Texas Medical Reform Tort Laws as Aurthored and written up by none other than that “SNAKE IN THE GRASS” Karl Rove and signed into law by his “coheart” George W. Bush when he was spreadung his incompetenance as governor of the state of Texas. In Texas , because of these so alled “reform” laws, it is now vertually impossible to bring a malpractice lawsuite against a doctor. Due to this condition, every sorcerer and “Snake oil salesman” who calles himself a doctor has been attracted to setting up his practie in Texas since now he has, in effect, a permit to kill! Once again, THANK YOU GEORGE W. BUSH!
So, the last resort I am left with is to report these “Charlatans” to the Texas Medical Board in the hopes that maybe they will be censured or disciplined in some way that will make it more difficult for them to practice their SCAMS in the state of Texas.
So, Ohio isn’t the only place that has bad doctors, believe me…we here in Texas are probably hatching them every minute….thanks to KARL ROVE AND G.W. BUSH!!!!

This is just one of the reasons that health care cost are so high. She was in labor for more than 13 hours and refused to have a c-section. Not to long ago this woman and her baby would have died. Doctors were able to save her and her child and their thanks is a law suit. I am sorry that the child has mental problems but is it any wonder with an idiot for a mother?

I certainly hope other women will not be covetous of this woman’s award.

I agree with those who express frustration over this situation in that, once again, the monetary award is so outrageous. I do hope it’s significantly reduced in the end. I am a nurse and, as such, understand the risks in so many parts of our healthcare. Personal injury attorneys should be restricted in what they can go after and how they advertise. I am sick of commercials on TV suggesting to people that they have a case because of somthing that might have happened to them and should pursue it. I am sick of huge awards given for pain and suffering. That does not have a monetary value! Money does not take pain and suffering away! All it does is raise insurance premiums for all of us (as a nurse with two teens I pay $380/month for major medical coverage only–you’d think those of us in the business of providing healthcare might get a break but that doesn’t happen).
That said, I don’t want to sound heartless toward this woman whose child has had problems related to this delivery, but I think perspective needs to be given to it. There are major risks in childbirth and OB’s are under the gun for doing too many C-Sections. Sometimes when a baby is stuck in the birth canal, depending how far it’s advanced, there is more risk in doing a C-Section than there is continuing to attempt a vaginal birth.

If she was told she had to have a c-section and denied it, she should receive NOTHING. Cases like this are exactly what’s wrong with the medical community in this country. Why is this the doctor’s fault?

This is atrohous

Most babies in the early 20th centurye would have died. Why has medicine assumed the risk for this situation. These awards arwards are ludicruse. I do understand the award somewhat though because of future medical cost. Having babies is not a science. There are risk invovled. Medical science has only allowd a partial mitigation of these risk, not the total elimination of risk. I think juries have to understand that.

TK
Folsom, CA

First thing we need to do in this country to fix our terrible healthcare is to limit arbitrary medical malpractice awards, to lets say $500,000

This is another example of why my healthcare costs are so high and that common business sense is all that’s needed to fix the healthcare problem.

I can just imagine if god forbid obama or hillary is president and push socialized healthcare: every illegal immigrant will be utilizing the system, then suing the doctors like the woman in this article…and why not? 20M and a shot at amnesty

another reason why i’m urging my kids to go to law school

This is exactly why malpractice insurance is so high. Bad things happen even when the doctor does everything right. That is not malpractice-it is a new house for a trial attorney.

“Everything medically possible”. That’s probably the problem right there. Did they break her water? Put her on pitocin? Give her cervidil? Hook her up to monitoring? Shove the epidural in her back? (No pain just a little pressure.) Continue to bring up her “narrow arch” and enormously large 9 pound baby? What a joke. Unless this woman had some injury to her pelvis, I would be willing to bet her body would have functioned just as intended. There is a harm and a wrong. But the harm was the anti-hippocratic concept of “everything medically possible”.

Back in 1937 in Ohio my grandmother gave birth to my Aunt, she too was retarded do to the fact the nurses held my grandmothers legs together because the Doctor wasn`t in. Back then the nurses HAD to wait for the Doctors to give birth. Holding my Aunts legs together gave her no oxygen to the brain. My Aunt died when she was 28 years old, she had many complications. I remember her so well, I was just a kid then. Wish my grandmother could of sued back then.

Christie Anderson

Just more reasons for medical insurance costs going up on us. Guess how much of the 20 million that the Lawyers get!

Thanks for helping to make cost of living go up even more…

I those agree with those objecting. This is a terrible decision. Years ago there would have been deaths involved in this situation. Medical science only helps mitigate problems, not eliminate them. There are still risk involve with childbieth. Look at the problems with mothers finding ob/gyn and anesthisiologist (the most sued). I blame lawyers (greedy), insurance companies (cheap), and doctors (spineless, stand-up and say no I won;t do it), and let,s not forget juries (too generous) I think that covers everyone. The solution starts with EVERYONE

TK

Obviously the docs didn’t make sure she had a healthy delivery. They knew her birth canal was to narrow probably for a normal birth weight. That was a case that should have had a C-section scheduled to start with.
Hurray that she won! Her child will have to have major care for the rest of her life, coupled with she will never have a normal life along with the pain and agony and trauma the mother went through and the pain and trauma the baby went through during the 13 hours of hell, I would say the award is tooooooooooo little!
Anyone (whether in the health care business or not) thinking that it’s too much should think about what they went through and what they go through on a daily basis at present and for ever, and not just the amount of money!

Only in America. Everyone is a victim. $20 million award??? Why not $10million? Why not $5 million.

Guess who pays for that $20 million… everyone else.

No one wants tort reform and yet the cost of American health insurance skyrockets. Meanwhile, uninformed people listening to their Democratic Party representatives somehow believe that the rich doctor stuck it to the little guy.

We need tort reform.

Comment by Diana Crisp
May 21st, 2008 at 1:29 pm

They should have done a hysterectomy as soon as they knew her pelvic was too small….even ordinary people know that!! Being a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, this infuriates me that they would be so stupid.
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A hysterectomy??? You seriously think she should have been sterilized because one physician felt her pelvis was too small??? OMG.

If you agree with this case and the outcome, you should never question why Americas healthcare costs are so high. These cases are unheard of in other countries with “better” socialized health care systems. If America does change to a socialized healthcare system, quality of healthcare will be much worse, and suing your doctor will be like trying to sue the government.,, Good luck. Just what we need poorer healthcare with no responsibility to the patient.

Okay, even Humana-Tricare won’t allow you to have a c-section unless it proves medically necessary. No one can be certain when a vaginal birth is going to turn for the worse. Unless the child is crowning a c-section is a viable possibility for complications. Most doctors and insurance companies would prefer a woman to give birth vaginally as the world has survived in this manner for well over 2000 years!

It’s unforunate that the child suffers now, and everyone who knows her no doubt prays each day. I’m sure many folks, after reading this story, will also say a prayer for the child and others like her who suffer from complications during birth.

Every birth is different, no doctor or nurse can even begin to guess what will happen. Don’t fault the doctors for attempting to have this child born traditionally….but don’t fault the mother for being upset about the end result. Do I think she (the mother) should have gotten $20m? No. I think perhaps the ruling should have simply paid back (or reimbursed) for the hospital stay, delivery, and medicenes/prodecures needed. I doubt the child will see most of that money….

I’m so happy for your family, my daughter was born in 1997 also, and she was also stuck in the birth canal, they tried to attempt to push her also back up, ultimately they had to get a team of nurses and doctors to push down on my stomach, and pull her out with suction, she had a 1/2 indent in her head from the suction, she has had 2 eye surgeries, and has been diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder. She has also mild asperger’s. I always questioned if any of her issues were due to her delivery. I’m glad you all pursued a malpractice suit and won. Congratulations.

WOW! You people who think this mother does not deserve this outcome must have no compassion or any idea what it is like to go through something as traumatic as this. Unfortunately, our family does know, but we don’t have a special needs child, instead we get to visit our angel at the cemetery because of a doctor’s poor judgment. Have some compassion!

Dr. Yang delivered all three of my children (1997, 2001 and 2005)and was there for me during a miscarriage in 2004. She is a wonderful physician! In fact, when I was in labor with my first in July, 1997 (before the child involved in the suit), my baby’s heart rate started dropping. Dr. Yang was completely on top of the situation and recommended a c-section. I agreed and was whisked away to the OR. She was completely in charge, reviewed the risks and the situation with me and my husband and had nothing but my baby’s best interests in mind. Today my daughter is a healthy 10 year old. In addition, she delivered my son in 2001 who was diagnosed in-utero with spina bifida. It was a high risk pregnancy and she delivered him via c-section, without complication and with the utmost of care. I feel lucky to be able to continue to choose to see Dr. Yang, the obstetrician of my choice. Please don’t judge a situation until you know the full story.

Ok, first I have to laugh at Diana Crisp, who has a comment that the Dr. “should have done a hysterectomy as soon as they knew per pelvic was too small…even ordinary people know that!!” Well Diana I think you need to read before you send, since a hysterectomy was not needed, but a c-section, which was performed.

Has anyone on these boards taken the time to research if she has any other lawsuits awarded and compared it to how many babies she has delivered? Also not to mention how many other types of surgeries she has done. I think that we have to remember that Dr.’s are human and mistakes can happen.

Does anyone know how they proved that the daughter’s handicaps are because the c-section was not performed quick enough? (I seriously doubt they proved this)