Illinois Jury Awards Record $101 Million for Baby Severely Brain Damaged at Birth
In November 2019, an Illinois jury awarded $101 million to a mother whose baby was severely brain-damaged at birth. The Cook County jury found that West Suburban Medical Center and its staff failed to monitor Tequila Sallis properly, even after telling them she could not feel her baby move. The hospital staff ignored Baby Gerald’s external fetal monitoring strips for six hours. Experts testified that had the nurses and staff notified doctors of the abnormalities and had a C-Section been performed, baby Gerald would have been born normal. Instead, baby Gerald, now almost seven years old, cannot walk or talk and requires extensive 24/7 care.
Facts of Case
On August 16, Ms. Sallis, 38 weeks pregnant with Gerald Sallis Jr., became concerned when she could not feel her baby moving. She came to West Suburban Medical Center, where she told the defendant, Nurse Walker, that she could not feel the baby moving. Nurse Walker placed her on an external fetal monitor for a scheduled nonstress test. The fetal heart rate tracing was nonreactive with “minimal to absent variability.” Ms. Sallis was not informed of the tracings. Ms. Sallis’ had an underlying preeclampsia diagnosis, and experts testify an immediate C-section should have been performed. However, Nurse Walker did not report the tracing to any doctor for over four hours. Instead, the nurse sent her for a biophysical profile, a prenatal ultrasound that evaluates fetal well-being. The defendant ultrasonographer, Kolenskyj, delayed performing the ultrasound and extended the length of the test unnecessarily. The ultrasound found the baby not moving and no muscle tone. The ultrasonographer failed to report these findings to a radiologist for over two hours. When Ms. Sallis was finally placed back on the fetal monitor, the fetal heart rate had dropped.
After five hours of being admitted, an emergency C-section was performed. When baby Gerald was born, he was bradycardic – his heart rate was in the 20s. He had no oxygen reserve left, and his heart stopped working. Baby Gerald was limp, pale, not moving, and could not breathe on his own. Baby Gerald was immediately diagnosed with a condition called HIE (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy) – a brain injury.
This medical malpractice case was complicated. Discovery took three years. Plaintiffs disclosed twelve retained experts; defendant disclosed ten. After a month-long trial, on November 5, 2019, the jury unanimously awarded $100,673,368.23 in damages against the West Suburban Medical Center, the Nurse Sheila Walker, the ultrasonographer, Kolenskyj, and the Doctor, Nathalie McCammon-Chase. Ultimately, the amount the mother received was reduced to 50 million as this was the agreed-upon cap by both sides if the verdict exceeded 50 million.
Elements to Establish Birth Injury
For a birth injury cause of action, one needs to prove the injury is caused by medical negligence by establishing the following elements: there is an applicable standard of care for the service or treatment provided; the medical professional failed to provide that treatment per the standard of care, and the failure caused injury to the mother or baby.
Expert Witnesses Required to Establish “Standard of Care”
Expert witness testimony is needed to establish liability and damages in birth injury lawsuits. In many medical malpractice cases, it can be hard to prove the doctor failed to act as any other doctor would in those circumstances. Establishing a “deviation” from the standard of care via qualified medical experts can often be the evidence needed to prevail in a jury trial or settlement negotiations.
Expert Testimony in Gerald Sallis Case Proved Deviation in Standard of Care
Experts testified that a C-section would have prevented Gerald Sallis’ brain damage. A doctor who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology and maternal-fetal medicine testified to the breaches of the standard of care by the hospital, the doctor, the nurse, the ultrasonographer, and others and how these breaches caused the injures and damages involved. According to this expert, beginning on August 9 and August 12, the standard of care required Ms. Sallis to be induced. “The failure of Dr. McCammon Chase to induce Ms. Sallis and to inform her of the risks of continuing her pregnancy was professional negligence.” (Complaint page 31). In addition, the nurse did not meet the standard of care when she failed to tell the doctor of the decreased fetal movement. According to this expert medical witness, “if Gerald Sallis been delivered by 11:30 AM, more likely than not he would have been born uninjured.” (Complaint, page 35).
Other experts testified to the deviation in the standard of care on the part of defendant Nurse Walker, the defendant ultrasonographer, Kolenskyj, the hospital, and the radiologist (who was found not guilty). “Nurse Walker’s repeated failure to recognize, report and advocate for her patient’s caused a delay of more than 5 hours in the delivery of this child.” (Complaint, page 65). “Ms. Kolenskyj’s failure to advocate for Ms. Sallis’ immediate evaluation by a labor and delivery provider was negligent….Withholding a 4/8 result from a patient’s labor, and delivery provider is willful and wanton conduct.” (Complaint, page 79).
The record $101 million awarded in this case was due in part to the expert medical witnesses who testified to the standard of care and how the standard of care was not met, time and again, by the various defendants.
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Sources
https://www.cliffordlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Gerald-Sallis-Jr-Complaint.pdf
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2019/11/08/548025.htm
https://www.enjuris.com/illinois/birth-injuries/
https://www.iltla.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Summer-2020-Trial-Journal.pdf
