Atlanta Injury Lawyer Blog
On April 9, 2008 I tried a bench trial and secured a $2.5 million verdict in DeKalb County, Georgia State Court on behalf of my clients for the loss of their unborn child due to medical malpractice. The trial was at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur, Georgia. This was a tragedy to my clients that, as with all medical malpractice cases, never should have happened. The case involved a claim for the wrongful death of a 14-16 week old fetus.
The medical malpractice action arose when a doctor failed to see the fetus on
sonograms. The obstetrician told my client he could not see a fetus in her womb on ultrasound and recommended she undergo a procedure to remove any “byproducts of conception.” He then conducted a defective D & C and prescribed a medicine, Methotrexate, (which is essentially chemotherapy)
to make sure any “conception” was killed. After the D & C, my client returned home where
she gave birth to a fairly well formed, but now dead, fetus. I secured the cooperation and testimony of the subsequent treating obstetrician who testified that the
fetus was absolutely fine and would have developed properly.
The trial was brief. The DeKalb County State Court judge heard the evidence, took a 15 minute recess, and returned with a verdict of $2.5 million.
My clients will never get their child back (who, by the way, would be about two years old right now and delighting the family in everything he did), but at least the verdict might give them some small sense of justice.
