Connecticut Family Awarded $36.5 Million in Birth Injury Case

By Daniel Hawn

Published on November 29, 2005

Thomas and Sheila Cowles, last week, became the recipients of what is considered the largest medical malpractice award ever issued in Connecticut.

The Cowles' case concerned their son, Nicolas, and the injuries he sustained while being delivered at Hartford Hospital on February 10, 1999. During his delivery, Nicolas incurred blindness, brain damage, and cerebral palsy. Now six years old, he is unable to lift his head for long, relies on a wheelchair and is attended to by an at-home nurse for 10 hours each day.

The jury in the case held Hartford Hospital 60 percent liable for Nicolas' injuries and the physician who performed the delivery, Dr. Peter J. Doelger, 40 percent liable.

In their decision, jurors stated that during the delivery, Doelger neglected signs from a monitoring device that evinced the fetus was in danger. The delayed delivery resulted in a significant increase in the fetus' blood acidity which should have led Doelger to perform a Ceasarian section much sooner than he did, jurors held.

The jury's decision named the hospital as partially responsible in that the nurses did not inform Doelger of the signs of danger.

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