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Jury Verdict Favors Hospital in Newborn’s Strep Infection That Caused Meningitis and Brain Damage

On April 6, 2007,  Dramara Sviels was born at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, Ill. During the delivery, Dramara contracted Group B Streptococcus infection, which was claimed not diagnosed before Dramara was discharged from the hospital the next day. As a result of the infection, it progressed to very serious meningitis, which was diagnosed on April 8, 2007. The meningitis left Dramara with cerebral palsy and seizure disorder. According to the report of this case, the lifetime medical and caretaking expenses would amount to more than $20 million.

In the lawsuit filed by Dramara’s family, it was maintained that the child was exhibiting symptoms of sepsis during his stay at Memorial Hospital at the time of his discharge and during an April 7 phone call from Dramara’s  parents to the hospital nursery after discharge. The lawsuit maintained that these symptoms should have been immediately treated.

The experts who testified on behalf of Dramara’s family stated that a chain of command protocol at the hospital should have been initiated to delay the infant’s discharge and that the nurses who handled the April 7 phone call should have referred the baby to a pediatrician or to the emergency room for immediate care.

The case was tried only regarding the actions of the hospital’s nursing staff. The defendants asserted that there were no deviations from the standard of care, denied there were any signs or symptoms of an infection on April 6 or April 7, argued that the infection did not become active until April 8 and denied proximate cause of the child’s brain damage.  Tragically, the jury sided with the hospital and found in its favor and against Dramara.

Dramara S. Sviels Jr., disabled minor v. Memorial Medical Center, No. 11 L 184 (Sangamon County, Ill.).

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling birth trauma injury cases, hospital negligence cases, nursing negligence cases, obstetric negligence cases and medical malpractice cases for individuals and families who have been harmed, injured or died as a result of the carelessness or negligence of a medical provider for more than 40 years in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Clarendon Hills, Brookfield, Hinsdale, Glencoe, Norridge, Robbins, Harvey, Blue Island, Crestwood, Forest Park, Elmhurst, Elmwood Park, Oak Park, Harwood Heights, Deerfield, Vernon Hills, Gurnee, Crystal Lake, Cary, Chicago (Edgewater, Pill Hill, Old Town Triangle, Chinatown, Wicker Park, Jefferson Park), Stickney and Cicero, Ill.

Related blog posts:

$3 Million Jury Verdict for Brain Damaged Baby Caused by Delay in Delivery by Nurses

Illinois Jury Finds for Doctor in Newborn Brain Injury Case; Eckstein v. Gallo

Hospital Fails to Adequately Monitor Pregnant Mother – $11.5 Million Awarded for Death of Unborn Child and Organ Loss of Mother in Miller v. Edward Hospital

 

 

 

 

 

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