Jury Awards $21 Million After Delayed C-Section Left Premature Infant with Cerebral Palsy at Baltimore Hospital

In September 2002, Shantiah Norfleet was admitted to MedStar Harbor Hospital at 32 weeks gestation with elevated blood pressure. Labor was induced the following day. As the delivery progressed, fetal heart monitors showed falling oxygen levels in the womb, yet hospital staff delayed the cesarean section for approximately three hours. When Jaylan Norfleet was finally delivered, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck.

Jaylan was diagnosed with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, a permanent condition that affects motor control in both legs. He uses a wheelchair and has required multiple surgeries. His cognitive function was not impaired. His parents restructured their work schedules around opposite shifts so one parent could always be present to provide care.

Attorney H. Briggs Bedigian, then of Wais, Vogelstein and Bedigian LLC, tried the case on behalf of the Norfleet family in Baltimore City Circuit Court before Judge John Philip Miller. The two-week trial centered on competing expert testimony about whether the monitoring data obligated the physicians to move to a cesarean section sooner than they did. Plaintiff experts Dr. Frederick E. Harlass and Dr. Richard L. Stokes, both OB/GYN specialists, testified that the delay was a deviation from the standard of care and directly caused Jaylan's oxygen deprivation. A neonatologist, Dr. Carolyn Crawford, addressed the resulting neurological injury. The hospital fielded its own team of specialists who maintained the care provided met applicable standards.

On July 31, 2012, the jury sided with the Norfleet family and returned a $21 million verdict. Maryland's statutory cap on non-economic damages reduced the total to $20.6 million.

Harbor Hospital appealed, but the Maryland Court of Special Appeals affirmed the award unanimously in September 2014. Writing for a three-judge panel, Judge Christopher B. Kehoe described the proceeding as 'a classic battle of the experts' and held that the jury was entitled to credit the plaintiffs' witnesses over the defense witnesses. The hospital then sought review from Maryland's highest court. In January 2015, the Court of Appeals denied that final petition, leaving the $20.6 million judgment in place.