Luvera Law Firm represented a Port Townsend family whose baby suffered a permanent brain injury when she slowly suffocated during labor and delivery at Jefferson Healthcare Medical Center. Read on for case updates and media coverage.
Port Townsend family receives $23.9 million verdict in case against Jefferson Healthcare after medical errors lead to baby’s permanent brain injury, according to Luvera Law Firm
Port Townsend, Wash. – A jury decided a $23.9 million verdict in favor of a Port Townsend family whose baby suffered permanent brain injury when she slowly suffocated during labor and delivery at Jefferson Healthcare Medical Center in 2014. The verdict against Jefferson County Public Hospital District, which operates the medical center and several other area clinics, was handed down Friday, Dec. 20, 2019 in Kitsap County Superior Court.
The jury agreed with plaintiffs Anna Scott and Zachary Burke that doctors and nurses missed several critical signs their baby Lana was in distress during delivery with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, depriving her of oxygen. The baby, who was born blue and needed extensive resuscitation to begin breathing on her own, suffers permanent brain damage that will severely limit her mental and physical capabilities for the rest of her life.
At trial, attorneys for Scott and Burke argued that medical providers used a fetal heart monitor during delivery, but failed to realize that it was picking up the mother’s heartbeat – not the baby’s – for most of the last three hours before birth, misleading them into thinking the baby was fine.
“Lana was essentially strangled by her own umbilical cord and Jefferson Healthcare medical providers did nothing to intervene,” said Robert Gellatly of Luvera Law Firm, the attorney representing Scott and Burke. “The medical team’s actions – or inactions – deprived her of oxygen, leaving Lana profoundly brain injured.”
Read the full release here.
Jury awards Port Hadlock family nearly $24 million in damages
PORT TOWNSEND — A Kitsap County jury has awarded $23.9 million to a Port Hadlock family who filed a tort claim against Jefferson Healthcare saying the hospital’s negligence led to their daughter being born with brain damage.
Hospital officials plan to appeal the verdict.
The claim, filed by the Luvera Law Firm of Seattle on behalf of Anna Scott and Zachery Burke, said doctors and nurses at Jefferson Healthcare hospital in Port Townsend missed critical signs with electronic heartbeat monitoring that showed the baby was in distress.
The couple’s daughter, Lana, had her umbilical cord wrapped tightly around her neck before she was born on Jan. 25, 2014.
Read the full story here.
Family awarded $24M from Washington hospital after infant was born with brain damage
A jury has awarded $23.9 million to a family who claimed Port Townsend, Wash.-based Jefferson Healthcare’s negligence caused their daughter’s brain damage, the Peninsula Daily News reports. The hospital intends to appeal the verdict.
Lana, daughter of Anna Scott and Zachery Burke, had her umbilical cord twisted around her neck before she was born Jan. 25, 2014. Providers didn’t realize the fetal heart monitor used during delivery was picking up Ms. Scott’s heartbeat instead of the baby’s for nearly three hours, according to the tort claim filed by Seattle-based Luvera Law Firm on behalf of Lana’s parents.
The infant was blue when she was born and had to be resuscitated, Robert Gellatly, an attorney at Luvera Law Firm, said. Lana suffered brain cell death and brain damage, which could have been avoided if she had been delivered earlier by Cesarean section, Mr. Gellatly claimed.
Read the full story here.
Jefferson Healthcare hit with $24M verdict; plans to appeal
A Kitsap County jury ruled in favor of a Port Hadlock family whose daughter has permanent brain injury after suffocating during labor and delivery at Jefferson Healthcare Medical Center in 2014.
The verdict and $23.9 million award against Jefferson County Public Hospital District was handed down Dec. 20, 2019 in Kitsap County Superior Court. Moving a trial to another county is an option available when judges are convinced there is a risk that local jurors have connections or experiences that could affect their impartiality toward local plaintiffs or defendants.
Jefferson Healthcare says it will appeal a jury’s $23.9 million verdict.
Anna Scott and Zachary Burke said doctors and nurses missed “several critical signs” that their baby was in distress during delivery, with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, depriving her of oxygen.
Scott and Burke argued that medical providers used a fetal heart monitor during delivery, but failed to realize that it was picking up the mother’s heartbeat, not the baby’s, misleading doctors into thinking the baby was fine.
Read the full story here.
Parents Receive Nearly $24 Million for Child’s Brain Damage
A jury has awarded $23.9 million to Anna Scott and Zachery Burke who filed a tort claim against Jefferson Healthcare alleging the center’s negligence led to their daughter being born with brain damage. The claim was filed on the family’s behalf by the Luvera Law Firm of Seattle and said medical personnel missed critical signs with electronic heartbeat monitoring which would have shown distress. As a result, the couple says, their daughter, Lana, had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck which impacted her brain development. The claim stated, “medical providers used a fetal heart monitor during delivery but failed to realize it was picking up Scott’s heartbeat, not the baby’s, for most of the last three hours before Lana was born.”
“This just wasn’t negligence, it was grossly negligent,” said Robert Gellatly of Luvera Law Firm. “This was so clear, and it should have been known. I think Jefferson Healthcare betrayed not only this patient’s trust but now it’s the public trust because it’s a public health district.”
Read the full story here.
