$28 million verdict after doctors failed to perform C-section

We start with a Cook County jury awarding $28 million to a Bellwood family after finding that doctors failed to meet the standard of care during the birth of a baby boy who suffered severe and lifelong injuries. Joining us now to talk about this is attorney Stephen Blecka with Copeland and Crane. Thank you so much for joining us, Stephen. We are so glad you were able to come on the show today. Thanks very much for having me. So just to begin, Stephen, give us a little bit of background on this case. Walk us back to what happened during that childbirth, which I believe was back in 2023. Yeah, so everything had gone pretty well throughout the pregnancy, no big issues. Everything was going to plan. Mom is admitted to UIC Medical Center for a planned induction of labor. And over the course of the first 12 hours, things looked fine. And then things Things started to progress a little more slowly. And then on the afternoon of December 9th, when they're monitoring the baby's heart rate for various information, including whether or not the baby's getting enough oxygen, and that monitor showed on December 9th that this baby was not getting enough oxygenated blood. And when that happens, the babies put a great risk of severe catastrophic injury and what needed to happen was they needed to be a change in plan. They were planning on a vaginal delivery and they needed to change the plan to a C-section. Unfortunately, that was never done and young Lennox was born on the verge of death. He required significant resuscitation. A long stay in the NICU before he was finally discharged but when he even when he was discharged he has catastrophic brain tissue loss that will impact every aspect of his life or every second every day going forward. When you mentioned that doctors failed to follow through with kind of what they were seeing in terms of the condition on the heart rate monitors, for example, were those, you know, when you see those types of levels, is that sort of a standard? Is there a standard operating procedure at most hospitals? Is a C-section kind of the immediate answer? So that's a good question. Is there a policy? There are policies that touch on the issue. The issue is, is that when enough signs point towards that the baby's not getting enough oxygen. And that's going to be interpreting not only the fetal monitoring, but also the progression of the labor. In this case, there was a risk of a serious infection growing at the same time. All of those factors need to be considered. And in essence, the call needs to be made. The physicians need to understand the gravity of the situation and understand that this But this baby cannot endure. More hours of contractions and the labor and delivery process, which is difficult on any baby. But in this case, Lennox was not tolerating that labor. He was not getting enough oxygen, and it was there to be seen, and it was there to be acted upon. And for one reason or another that maybe nobody will ever know, it was not acted upon that night. And how is Lennox doing today? I know you said when he was first born, he struggled quite a bit. But how old is he now? Has he turned three yet? And how is he doing? He'll be three on December 10th. You know, he is one of the most wonderful children I've ever met. He is catastrophically injured. He doesn't have, you know, he has spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, so almost no voluntary use of any of his limbs. He has partial blindness. But he does find joy in life, even in that situation. I like to, his mom will tell you that he loves listening to Elmo. Thank you. And so listening to cartoons, and he's a laugher, he's a smiler, he reacts to his mom. I mean, they're a wonderful, wonderful family. And his mom, through all of this, is one of the strongest. Strongest women I've ever met. She is a rock star. Thank you. She's even, during the pendency of this case... Has started two foundations for people, for moms and children. She started the Beautiful Blossoming Women Foundation that helps young moms at need. And she helps with anything from baby showers to supplies and things like that. And then she has the Live for Lennox Foundation, which is a support group that she founded. The single mother founded when she's still taking care of her son 24 hours a day. That she found it for other mothers and other families dealing with this type of injury they call it a hypoxic ischemic injury and she's formed a foundation to help support those mothers so that they have a community of their own and I just find that inspiring. Yeah, that is absolutely wonderful that she has been able to turn an experience that she had into something that could benefit so many others. Tell us a little bit about the original complaint and who exactly it was filed against. Sure, so at the beginning of a lawsuit, there are a number of things that you have to think about as an attorney. One is who could potentially be involved and, you know, who's who's to. Who's responsible for what went wrong? And so initially we named, there were five physicians named who took care of both Tarey and Lennox on the course of, on the day of December 9th into December 10th. Having worked with a number of experts in the field, we determined that basically the cutoff for when delivery needed to happen was 8.30 p.m. that night. And so the physicians responsible during those hours were the ones who ended up remaining in the suit during trial. And that was there was a fourth year resident and the attending who were on who are caring for these patients. Between about 6 p.m. and the delivery, which wasn't until 1.40 a.m. the next day, but it was that time period, that 6 to 8.30 time period, where there was a chance to make a difference, to change the outcome. And what needed to happen during that time was to change the plan and go to a C-section. Well, unfortunately, what happened... If that plan did not have they continued on towards this goal of a vaginal delivery. And unfortunately, after 830pm for another five plus hours, the monitoring only got worse. And so at some point injury was inevitable. And because the tracings, the monitoring that they were doing showed such signs that Lennox was in severe distress. His heart rate was rising in one hand and then falling. And there was this alternation between he was trying to rush more blood to his tissues, but his heart rate kept falling because he didn't have enough oxygen. And so it was that time frame, that 6 to 8.30 time frame where... A lot, everything laid in the balance for Lennox. And the decisions of the providers at UIC were to continue on to a vaginal delivery. And ultimately, that led to catastrophic brain loss and injury for this child. What do you think stood out most to the the jury to result in this $28 million verdict. So there's a number of things, I think, but, you know, I think the... The defense experts in the case pointed to try to point to an event, a silent event occurring somewhere in the week before mom showed up for admission. They said that there was an alleged umbilical cord compression issue that stopped blood flow going to the baby even though there was no evidence of it. And so part of my job and my partner Mr. Crane's job is to reveal the That's the right word for it, the falseness of what that defense was. They were trying to do what they could to show that it didn't, whatever happened to Lennox, happened before him and his mom ever stepped foot in UIC. And part of our job is to show that those experts aren't taking into consideration all the facts, aren't taking into consideration the condition under which Lennox was born. He was basically hanging on to dear life, showing that this just happened. And they tried to say it happened a week Week to 10 days earlier. And, you know, I think the jury saw through that. And I think the jury recognized that what happened, happened on the night of December 9th into December 10th, 2023. And I think, you know, once you, once you've realized that then the issue becomes, did these physicians, did these physicians, were they, did they act reasonably careful? Did they, and this is for a jury to decide, so we have to present evidence and they hear out from evidence from the doctors themselves. And I will say that the doctors in this case are very pleasant people. They did not mean to do any harm. But everybody, no matter your place in life, everybody makes mistakes. And sometimes those mistakes don't mean a whole lot. We get by with the, I didn't turn a turn signal on. Sometimes we'd get by with mistakes all the time, but sometimes, sometimes mistakes can have the most vital consequences to the most vulnerable of us, which would be the unborn child. And so in this case, the jury found that the attending doctor at issue did not comply with the standard of care. And that she should have proceeded to a cesarean section before Lennox was forever and irreversibly injured. What do you hope, Steven, that doctors, hospitals, other parents perhaps take away From this verdict. So there's a few different people you've mentioned. In terms of doctors and hospitals, you know, the gravity of recognizing the decision-making process must be at Constant mind all all the time, the gravity of not changing the plan, the gravity and the consequences of sticking to a plan when, you know, there is an unreasonable risk of injury to the child for the for the families out there. You know, I, I hope, you know, I think, you know, there is. There is a remedy for every wrong. And if your child was injured during labor and delivery, there is a remedy for it in the courts. We can't take away what's been done. We're done. It's not possible in this universe. But what we can do is try to make life easier going forward, as we've tried to do for Tere, and I believe we have for Tere. Thank you very much, Greg. I also just want to say for parents going forward, You know, take a look at Tere's Live for Lennox Foundation. Thank you. There is a, she has been just an amazing human being ever since I first talked to her. When I first talked to her, she was still in the NICU with Lennox and trying to figure out what was going on. And she has just been amazing every step of the way. And if you're looking for a community or if you're looking for similarly situated people To interact with and to learn from so you can discuss the challenges that exist. There are communities out there and if you're not near the Chicagoland area, I would recommend looking for those types of support groups and that support system because it's out there and every family deserves to have that kind of community. All right, Stephen, thank you so much for joining us today to share more about this case and this verdict. We're glad you were able to join the show. Thanks very much, Casey.