Cerebral Palsy

September 18, 2026

$23.5 Million Jury Verdict in Late Cesarean Section, Negligent Credentialing

At 39 weeks gestation, Luhe Feng experienced painful contractions and blood-tinged discharge. She was admitted to Mercy Hospital & Medical Center where an electronic fetal monitor showed positive fetal movement. Approximately 45 minutes after her arrival, a nurse assessed minimal variability, late decelerations and absent fetal heart rate accelerations. The presence of meconium also was noted when Feng’s membranes were artificially ruptured. Meconium is a newborn infant’s earliest stool, often caused by stress.

Despite the continuation of late decelerations, the treating obstetrician Dr. Yuhang Shek, told the nurse to anticipate a vaginal delivery. Another doctor later called Dr. Shek, who had left the hospital, and told him that Feng might be experiencing a placental abruption. Dr. Shek disagreed, and the other doctor consulted the department chair, who agreed that cesarean delivery was warranted.

Feng’s son, Dylan Gong, was born approximately 16 minutes later. His Apgar scores were one at one minute and four at five minutes. He required resuscitation and was transferred to a children’s hospital, where he was diagnosed as having suffered hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Dylan, now age 9, suffers from cerebral palsy, developmental delays and other deficits.
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March 19, 2025

$18 Million Settlement for Resulting Brain Damage in Delay in Cesarean Section

by Robert Kreisman

Shada Tucker was admitted to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital (Cook County Hospital) to deliver her child. Labor was induced and continued for 16 hours before Tucker underwent an emergency cesarean section. Her newborn son was later diagnosed with having hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and a seizure disorder. Baby Tucker is now 3 years old and suffers from cerebral palsy and severe cognitive deficits requiring 24-hour care.

The Tucker family filed a lawsuit against the hospital, alleging it chose not to perform a timely cesarean section, resulting in respiratory distress and brain damage to Baby Tucker.

The parties settled before a jury trial for $18 million.

January 24, 2025

$23.07 Million Jury Verdict in Failure to Timely Deliver Newborn

by Robert Kreisman

At 32 weeks gestation, Alexis Willis arrived at Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago. She was complaining of a headache and decreased fetal movement. At the hospital, she was diagnosed as having preeclampsia and was connected to a fetal heart monitor. The fetal heart monitor showed variable deceleration and an absence of viability and acceleration.

After about two hours, the fetal heart monitor showed a prolonged deceleration. Willis was taken to the operating room, where the baby’s heart-rate was reported as bradycardic. Bradycardia is a condition where the heart beats more slowly than expected, under 60 beats per minute in adults. Approximately 25 minutes later, Willis’s daughter was born in a depressed condition; the baby required resuscitation. The baby’s Apgar scores were 3 at 1 minute and 5 at 5 minutes. The baby, who is now 7 years old, has been diagnosed as having hypoxic-ischemic brain damage and cerebral palsy.

Willis and the baby’s father sued the hospital and an attending physician, maintaining that they chose not to perform a timely cesarean delivery.
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December 6, 2022

$25.4 Million Jury Verdict for Overuse of Pitocin During Labor and Failure to Properly Supervise Resident

by Robert Kreisman

Rachel Harris was admitted to Truman Medical Center to deliver her child. She was given Pitocin over the course of approximately 6 hours. She was attended by a family practice physician, Dr. Kelly Sandri, and a resident-physician. Harris’s baby suffered hypoxic-ischemic brain damage resulting in cerebral palsy.

Harris, on her daughter’s behalf, sued the hospital and Dr. Sandri, alleging excessive administration of Pitocin, which led to the child’s brain damage and birth injury.

Harris also alleged that Dr. Sandri had not properly supervised the resident who also chose not to respond to signs of Pitocin overdose evident on the fetal monitor.
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August 29, 2022

$27.6 Million Jury Verdict in Inadequate Postpartum Monitoring Results in Cerebral Palsy of Newborn

by Robert Kreisman

Erin Gresser suffered from Type 1 diabetes. She was admitted to North Colorado Medical Center after receiving a diagnosis of preeclampsia. Gresser was treated for group B strep infection during her labor and prolonged late decelerations occurred.

Gresser’s daughter, Carina, had Apgar scores of 8 and 9 at 1 and 5 minutes and abnormal pH levels. Carina also had hyperbilirubinemia and became tachycardic later the same evening, prompting her admission to the hospital’s ICU for further evaluation and treatment.

Carina suffered episodes of bradycardia and continued tachycardia. The laboratory allegedly reported a positive blood culture with gram-negative rods. Additionally, the gram stain from cerebral spinal fluid was positive for gram-negative rods.
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October 20, 2020

Illinois Appellate Court Reverses $50.3 Million Jury Verdict in Birth Injury on Trial Error Made as to Late Discovery Disclosures

by Robert Kreisman

Julien Florez was born on March 22, 2009. His mother, Aimee Florez, was admitted to Evanston Hospital just after noon that day, five days after her due date. All tests and ultrasounds registered normal. After a procedure to break her water, Julien experienced a prolonged deceleration in fetal heart rate after his mother was given an epidural. Pitocin was administered by a second doctor to accelerate labor, and when Julien’s heart rate decelerated, a C-section was ordered.

Julien was delivered by C-section with an Apgar score of 1 out of 10, blue, and with an abnormally low heart rate requiring intervention due to lack of blood to the brain. Body cooling was initiated to slow or prevent additional brain damage. Within five hours of birth, Julien showed signs of seizures.

Julien, represented by his parents, Aimee and David Florez, filed a lawsuit. Julien suffered from cerebral palsy. At age 9, he exhibited global delays, significant speech and language deficit, requiring assistance eating, dressing and with hygiene as well as 24-hour supervision.
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January 14, 2020

Illinois Appellate Court Reverses Trial Court’s Dismissal Order That Revives Birth Injury Claims Against Hospital

by Robert Kreisman

The Illinois Appellate Court has ruled a woman may be able to hold the hospital liable for injuries her child sustained during labor and delivery.

The Illinois Appellate Court for the 5th District reversed a trial judge’s decision that the patient should have known the doctor who delivered her twins was independent from the hospital.

The appeals panel wrote that there were still questions as to whether the physician and the hospital made it appear the doctor was an agent of the institution rather than a contractor.
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January 1, 2019

Fetoscopy Surgery Has Caused Serious Injuries, Including Cerebral Palsy and Hypoxia

by Robert Kreisman

The use of fetoscopy was first developed in the 1990s. The process involves ultrasound-guided placement of a stethoscope – a small, fiber optic instrument – in the uterus to see the fetus and the placenta.

Fetoscopy as a surgical procedure can treat various fetal conditions including congenital diaphragmatic hernia and bladder outlet obstruction. Its most common use is the treatment of a rare condition, Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS).

The condition of TTTS occurs when identical twins share a placenta with blood vessel connections that cause blood to flow unevenly between the two fetuses. According to the article, “Caught on Camera” by attorney Jeffrey B. Killino, one of the fetuses develops a small amniotic sac while the other sac becomes too large. Laser fetoscopy allows the laser to break up and collapse these blood vessel connections. Reportedly, if the condition is not treated, both of the fetuses can die. TTTS occurs in approximately 1 in 2,500 pregnancies. It is expected that there will be a rise in TTTS occurrences because of the increase in fertility-assisted pregnancies.
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July 19, 2018

$1.83 Million Jury Verdict for Failure to Timely Treat Jaundice Leading to Cerebral Palsy of Newborn

by Robert Kreisman

Two weeks after Baby Doe’s premature birth, she developed signs of jaundice. Seven hours later, a check of her bilirubin revealed a severely elevated level of 29. The attending doctor ordered retesting of the bilirubin level but did not order any treatment.

Hours later, when a second bilirubin test showed a level of 27.1, the same doctor was notified by nurses of the out-of-balance level. By the next morning, the child’s bilirubin level increased to 32.1. Another physician began treating Baby Doe the next morning and ordered phototherapy, which began more than 17 hours after Baby Doe’s first bilirubin test was reported to the first doctor. Phototherapy is the usual treatment for jaundiced newborns.

Baby Doe suffered kernicterus resulting from severe jaundice. Kernicterus is a kind of brain damage caused by excessive jaundice, just as Baby Doe had endured. Baby Doe is now 10 years old. She suffers from cerebral palsy and cannot speak or walk. The Doe family sued the health system that employed the doctors involved alleging that they chose not to timely test Baby Doe’s bilirubin level at the first signs of jaundice and chose not to timely treat the jaundice. That failure caused the child’s permanent and severe injuries.
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May 3, 2018

Recent Study Shows That Medical Malpractice Non-economic Damage Caps Do Not Affect the Number of Cesarean Section Deliveries

by Robert Kreisman

Illinois is not one of the many states that have enacted non-economic damage caps on medical malpractice lawsuits. However, Illinois lawmakers have three times voted to enact such laws; each was found unconstitutional for a variety of reasons.

According to a paper completed by Rutgers Law School Professor Sabrina Safrin, caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases have no effect on a procedure that’s among the most commonly undertaken in operating rooms across the United States: cesarean sections. “C-sections are arguably the poster child for so-called-defensive medicine,” the professor wrote in her paper.

C-sections involve cutting through a mother’s abdomen and uterine wall to remove the fetus. In many cesarean delivery cases, the fetus may have been observed to be in distress. By delivering an emergency C-section child, the purpose is preventing brain damage, cerebral palsy and other life-altering birth injuries.
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