A Primer on Birth Injury Cases and How to Keep Them Simple

 Our firm recently had success in a birth injury case in Gwinnett County, Georgia. In that case we represented the family of Kailey Watson against the labor and delivery team that delivered her and the hospital where they worked. Following her delivery, Kailey was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. The term "cerebral palsy" refers to several different kinds of permanent brain injuries that occur before, during, or shortly after birth. Victims of cerebral palsy can suffer a variety of symptoms including: limited movement, speech difficulties, learning disabilities, visual problems, hearing problems, and Epilepsy, seizures or spasms. DWI/DUI. Kailey suffered many of these. And by the time of trial Kailey was a ten year-old girl who suffered grand-mal seizures, had limited use of her right arm and leg, and whose intellectual development had stopped at the level of a three year-old.

In Kailey's case the jury was faced with two very different stories of how her injuries occurred. Our story was that she had suffered a Hypoxic injury (lack of oxygen during delivery). The Defense claimed she had developed an infection. Although there was medicine and experts supporting both sides, the jury found our story the most credible. They returned a verdict for Kailey of $12.9 Million Dollars.

The purpose of this article is to provide three things: first, a primer for lawyers on actionable birth injuries and to give them a very basic starting point if they have a parent who comes to them with a child who has suffered complications from delivery like Kailey. Second, an outline of the kinds of experts and their specialties that are often required to successfully litigate a birth-injury case. And third, a reminder to "keep it simple" when teaching complex medicine to a jury.