$10 Million Settlement After a Hospital Morphine Overdose Caused Permanent Brain Damage to an Infant

An 8-month-old boy was being treated at a hospital in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, when a physician prescribed an overdose of morphine. Morphine is a strong opioid, and the safe dose for an infant is very small. Dosing is calculated by weight, which leaves little room for error in a child that young. The amount this baby received was far more than his body could handle.

The drug depressed his system, and the result was severe brain damage. The injury was permanent. A baby who should have recovered and gone home healthy was instead left with a lifelong impairment, caused by a medication that was meant to control pain. The harm fell on the child and on the parents who would care for him for the rest of his life.

His family brought a medical-malpractice claim and hired Cannon & Dunphy, the firm William Cannon and Patrick Dunphy started in Milwaukee in 1985. To win, the family had to prove two things. First, that ordering and giving that much morphine to an 8-month-old fell below the standard of care a careful provider would follow. Second, that the morphine, and not some other condition, was what caused the brain damage.

Causation is often the hardest part of an infant medical case. Children are fragile and their medical histories are complicated, so a defense can argue that an injury came from something other than the drug. Building the proof takes detailed records, medical experts, and a clear timeline connecting the overdose to the harm.

The case resolved in a $10 million settlement. Because the parties agreed to settle, there was no jury verdict and no appeal, so no court later cut the figure. For a Wisconsin medical case, a recovery of that size was rare at the time.

William Cannon, who died of cancer in 2023, was remembered as one of the most successful trial lawyers in the state. Over a career that began in 1972, he was credited with winning more verdicts and settlements of $10 million or more than any other lawyer in Wisconsin history. The morphine case was one of them.