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Birth-injury case nets $1.55M verdict

Home movie of birth used as evidence

A Newport News jury returned a $1.55 million verdict in a birth-injury case this month in which the evidence included a home movie of the delivery, according to lawyers for the plaintiff. The April 18 verdict against a Newport News obstetrician and her practice group represents the maximum recovery under Virginia’s medical malpractice law.

Plaintiff’s lawyer Lisa O’Donnell explained that the father had set up a video camera in the delivery room to record the birth of the couple’s first child. At trial, over the objection of defense lawyer William Charters, retired Hampton Judge Walter J. Ford allowed the jury to watch that video. The jury was limited to only one viewing, O’Donnell said. Experts on both sides were allowed to comment on what the video showed.

O’Donnell and co-counsel Amberley Jochens argued that the video contradicted the doctor’s dictated delivery note. The lawyers alleged that the video showed inappropriate delivery technique and failed to show the maneuvers the doctor claimed to have performed when she encountered difficulty in the delivery.

“The case was as much about what she didn’t do as she did do,” said O’Donnell.

O’Donnell said that the plaintiff, now a 7-year-old girl, suffers from Erb’s Palsy as a result of the delivery complications. She had surgery at Johns Hopkins to partially repair the nerve damage. Past and future medical damages were $50,000.

The case is Booth v. O’Connell.

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