Sommers Schwartz attorneys Matthew Turner and Robert Sickels obtained a medical malpractice settlement on behalf of an infant who suffered extensive neurological damage following a metabolic stroke while in the defendants’ care.

The infant had a genetic disorder that required her nutrition and caloric intake to be carefully monitored and supported when she got sick. She was seen in the defendant’s emergency room with a 102-degree fever, congestion, and vomiting. The child was discharged and then returned to the ER with her mother two days later.

The infant was admitted to the hospital and placed under the care of two pediatricians and the nursing staff at the defendant hospital. The doctors and nurses at the hospital failed to adequately monitor her weight and nutrition and failed to ensure that she had proper IV access to provide necessary metabolic support. After six days, the infant had become weak, lethargic, and was experiencing rapid respirations. At that point, she was transferred to another hospital. She was extremely lethargic upon arrival, and an MRI of the brain showed the infant had suffered a brain stem stroke.

Due to the professional negligence of the pediatricians and the nursing staff, the child is quadriplegic, cognitively disabled, requires gastric-tube feedings. These deficits will require continuous physical, occupational, and speech and language therapies, as well as 24-hour per day, seven-day per week care for the remainder of her life.