$33.81 Million Judgment Entered for Brain Damaged Baby Whose Birth Was Delayed When C-Section Was an Option

Marla Dixon was admitted to a hospital in labor. Her obstetrician was Dr. Ata Atogho, a U.S. government employee. Dr. Atogho attended the delivery.

After the heartrate monitor of the fetus showed decelerations and poor variability, a nurse discontinued Pitocin and called Dr. Atogho who arrived sixteen minutes later. Dr. Atogho restarted the Pitocin. Dixon labored for another hour and a half.

Dr. Atogho then used a vacuum extractor to deliver Dixon’s baby son, who was born in a depressed condition with Apgar scores of one at one minute and four at five minutes.

Baby Boy Dixon is now three years old and has been diagnosed as having cerebral palsy resulting from hypoxic-ischemic brain damage. He is also blind and nonverbal. Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or HIE, is a brain injury caused by the lack of oxygen delivered to the brain. This is also known as intrapartum asphyxia.

Marla Dixon and her husband, individually, and on behalf of their son, filed suit against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) alleging liability for Dr. Atogho’s choosing not to offer and perform a Cesarean section surgery in light of the distress of the unborn fetus.

These cases under the FTCA are handled as a bench trial and thus the court entered a judgment in the amount of $33,810,000 in favor of the Dixon family.

The attorneys handling this case for the Dixons were Richard B. Sharp and Vidian Mallard.

At trial, the Dixon attorneys presented experts in lifecare planning, physical medicine, economics and obstetrics.

The defendant United States presented experts in gynecology, pediatric neurology, obstetrics, lifecare planning and economics.

Dixon v. United States, No. 15-CV-23502 (S.D. Fla. April 28, 2017).

Kreisman Law Offices has been successfully handling birth trauma injury cases, birth injury lawsuits, failure to diagnose and deliver in fetal distress, traumatic brain injury lawsuits and medical malpractice lawsuits for individuals, families and the loved ones who have been injured, harmed or killed by the negligence of a medical provider for more than 40 years, in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Palos Heights, Worth, Chicago Ridge, Justice, Bridgeview, Riverside, Berkeley, Crestwood, Forest Park, Bensenville, Berwyn, Chicago (Garfield Park, Humboldt Park, Pilsen, Chinatown, Washington Park, Jackson Park, Hyde Park), Lincolnwood, Wilmette and Northbrook, Ill.