Jury Awards $299.6M In Obstetrics Case

Baltimore City Circuit Court judge Audrey S. Carrion denied Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center’s motion for a new trial after a jury awarded a record $299.6M judgment against the hospital in July 2019. Plaintiff Erica Byrom filed a medical malpractice case alleging that medical staff at the hospital gave her inaccurate information about her unborn baby in 2014. Attorneys for the plaintiff argued that the wrong information from doctors influenced Byrom’s decision to not deliver via C-section.  She was told that she could terminate the pregnancy due to the baby’s poor medical condition and medical staff stopped monitoring the baby.  Byrom’s daughter was born alive but suffered brain damage due to a lack of oxygen during delivery and suffers from spastic cerebral palsy. She requires skilled nursing care sixteen hours a day.

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center filed a motion for a new trial which Judge Carrion denied.  The judge reduced the $25M pain and suffering award to fall in line with the state’s limit on non-economic damages. While that part of the award was lowered to $740K, the rest of the $205.38M verdict stands.

Hospitals and their obstetric staff are often named in cases alleging a breach of medical care following a poor fetal outcome. Medical negligence allegations include failure to properly monitor the patient and fetus, failure to recognize signs of fetal distress, failure to perform delivery in a timely fashion, and failure to convert to a C-section section to avoid undue fetal distress.

An experienced board-certified obstetrics expert from a top university medical center is an invaluable resource in complex medical negligence litigation. Secure a hand-selected obstetrics expert witness by contacting Elite Medical Experts. A physician or nurse on Elite’s experienced Case Strategy Team will connect you with the medical expert best suited to the fact pattern in your case.