$5.5 million - Record settlement in California for a brain injury to a child — hospital personnel failed to note symptoms, child suffered from a condition known as hyperbilirubenemia.

At the time, this was a record settlement in California for a brain injury to a child. Our neonatal and birth injury lawyers in California recently represented a child who was brain injured shortly after her birth. She suffered from a condition known as hyperbilirubenemia. There was a break down of red blood cells in her blood which resulted in excess biliruben. This biliruben eventually crossed the blood-brain barrier and stained the baby's brain resulting in a condition called kernicterus. This caused the child to become a spastic quadriplegic and unable to hear, although the baby had retained cognitive ability. Our office has handled several similar cases in the past. It was our contention that the hospital personnel failed to note symptoms suggesting the ongoing increasing biliruben which included bloody urine and increasing jaundice. When the baby's condition was finally diagnosed, treatment was attempted, but it was too late to prevent brain damage. Under California law, non-economic damages are limited to $250,000.