A hospital in West Reading, Pa. has settled a medical malpractice lawsuit involving a young boy who suffered a severe brain injury during birth. Reading Hospital has agreed to pay the family $32.5 million for the incident that occurred in 2018.
The unnamed boy suffers from hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, which stems from a lack of adequate oxygen and blood flow to the brain that occurred during his delivery. The injury causes seizures, cognitive impairment and reduced motor function that can be severe and last a lifetime.
In a statement, the law firm representing the boy’s mother, Miranda Garcia, said the injury happened when clinicians failed to properly identify fetal distress, which could have been remedied with antibiotics and a Cesarean section. Then, after the baby was born with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, staff failed to deploy interventions that could have reduced brain damage.