$14
MILLION AWARD IN '02 BIRTH INJURY
(As reported in the Chicago Tribune)
By Emma Graves Fitzsimmons
Tribune staff reporter
May 31, 2007
The family of a 5-year-old Chicago boy was awarded $14
million in a settlement Tuesday after he suffered a severe
brain injury during birth after hospital staff members
allegedly mixed up his heart rate with his mother's pulse.
The malpractice complaint against Northwestern Memorial
Hospital contended the baby was not breathing when he was
born and that emergency staffers were not prepared to
resuscitate him because of the monitoring error.
The 7-minute lapse without oxygen caused the child to suffer
from cerebral palsy, leaving his arms and legs paralyzed,
according to the complaint.
The boy, Peter Vlachos, will never be able to walk or talk,
his family's lawyer Kurt Lloyd said Wednesday.
Lloyd said the parents were pleased with the settlement,
which was approved by Cook County Circuit Judge Gregory M.
O'Brien.
"They are very relieved," Lloyd said. "Now they can provide
for the child for the rest of his life."
Georgiann Vlachos delivered her first child about noon May
24, 2002, at Prentice Women's Hospital, which is a part of
the Northwestern system.
Her obstetrician and nurse allegedly misinterpreted the
boy's heart rate before the delivery and did not realize the
baby was in fetal distress, according to the complaint.
A neonatal resuscitation team was not called to help the
newborn until after he was delivered and appeared blue and
limp, according to a statement from Lloyd.
As soon as the team arrived and placed a breathing tube in
his airway, the baby's heart rate increased.
But the seven minutes he was without oxygen caused him to
suffer from spastic quadriplegia, the complaint said.
The mother's obstetrician, Dr. Susan Hungerford, also was
named as a defendant in the complaint.
Officials at Northwestern confirmed the settlement but
declined comment Wednesday. Hungerford did not return a call
for comment.
Vlachos did not have previous complications with her
pregnancy, Lloyd said.
The parents, who live on Chicago's North Side, have since
had two healthy daughters, he said.
