Brian McKeen: Jury awards family $130 million in medical malpractice case
9/25/18 Lexington Herald Leader: https://www.kentucky.com/living/health-and-medicine/article218997400.html
(WJBK) - A jury awarded a settlement of more than $130 million on behalf of a child who has cerebral palsy after receiving care from William Beaumont Hospital.
The jury found two nuclear medicine technicians from the hospital caused severe and permanent brain damage, resulting in cerebral palsy.
Vihn Tran went to the hospital in 2006 when he was two months old. He suffered a breath-holding spell in connection with multiple attempts to start an IV. We're told the technicians delayed calling a code blue and failed to give chest compressions, as required by the standard of care. Consequently, Tran suffered a severe and prolonged hypoxic ischemic insult resulting in massive brain damage
"Nothing will ease the suffering of this child, but at least this settlement will alleviate some of the financial burden from his caretakers," says Brian McKeen, one of the attorneys representing the Tran family. "I'm grateful for the jurors service and gratified they agreed that this was a preventable tragedy."
The settlement of $130,571,897 is one of the largest medical malpractice verdicts in Michigan history. It was reached in Oakland County Circuit Court.
"We are committed to providing extraordinary care, every day. We took this case before a jury because we believe the care we delivered was appropriate. Even though the dollar amount of the verdict will be substantially reduced due to applicable law, we stand by the care we provided and are appealing," an official statement from Beaumont Hospital reads.
Hospital blamed for child's brain damage, ordered to pay $130 million
A jury ordered Beaumont Hospital of Michigan to pay a $130 million dollar medical malpractice verdict in the case of a 2-month-old who suffered brain damage and subsequently cerebral palsy.
"In 2006, when Vihn Tran was 2 months old, he suffered a breath-hold spell in connection with multiple attempts to start an IV," the plaintiffs' law firm, McKeen and Associates, said through its public relations firm, Marx Layne & Company, in a statement issued Tuesday, Sept. 25. "The technicians delayed calling a code blue and failed to give chest compressions as required by the standard of care.
"Consequently Tran suffered a severe and prolonged hypoxic ischemic insult resulting in massive brain damage."
The hospital maintains it treated the child appropriately, says the jury verdict is expected to be "substantially reduced" and is planning to appeal the verdict, according to spokesman Mark Geary.
The trial, which was conducted in Oakland County Circuit Court, took three weeks to complete.
"Nothing will ease the suffering of this child, but at least this settlement will alleviate some of the financial burden from his caretakers," said Brian McKeen, a managing partner of McKeen & Associates. "I'm grateful for the jurors service and gratified they agreed that this was a preventable tragedy."
