Pennsylvania Jury Awards $2.7 Million to Family of Brain Damaged Baby
By Amy Hill
Published on May 23, 2007
The lawsuit, filed in 2002, states that Christian Boullianne was delivered by nurse midwife Pamela Kozick on Jan. 26, 1999, at Carlisle Hospital. The court found Kozick guilty of negligence in failing to respond to signs of fetal distress during labor that were apparent on the fetal monitor.
The jury held that Kozick's failure to act was a substantial factor in Christian Boullianne’s injuries. Christian’s parents, Gerard and Linda Boullianne, were awarded $2 million under the Survival Act, and $273,471.61 under the Wrongful Death Act.
The Boulliannes’ attorney, Daniel Weinstock, said that the case was based on the fetal monitor readings, which, he said, indicated potential fetal distress for the last hour and 24 minutes of labor. He said that although the hospital’s policy requires nurse midwives to call a doctor when fetal monitor readings are negative, Kozick failed to do so.
Gerard Boullianne said his wife had a healthy, normal pregnancy up until delivery. Gerard, who knew how to read a fetal monitor from his previous experience as an EMT, became concerned over the monitor readings about 10 minutes before his son was born. He said that when he expressed his concerns to Kozick, she ignored them.
Christian was born with a faint heartbeat, requiring resuscitation by hospital staff. He was on life support for the first month of his life and, once he left the hospital, needed around-the-clock care. Christian died at age two.
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