$7.95 Million Settlement for a Newborn's Hypoxic Brain Injury

The case turned on the hours surrounding one child's birth at a North Carolina hospital. According to the family, the labor was mismanaged and the delivery was not performed in time. During that window the baby was deprived of oxygen and suffered a hypoxic brain injury in utero. Oxygen loss of that kind does not reverse: the brain cells that die during a delayed delivery do not grow back, and the disability that follows is permanent.

The infant survived, but was left severely and permanently brain injured. A child in that condition typically needs round the clock supervision, ongoing therapy, and specialized equipment, and the cost of that care runs for a lifetime. Much of it falls on the parents. To protect the family, the identities of the parties, the jurisdiction where the case was filed, and the name and location of the hospital were all kept confidential, and they remain so.

Rachel A. Fuerst of Henson & Fuerst in Raleigh represented the family, with co-counsel Amberley Hammer of Currituck. Henson Fuerst handles birth and brain injury claims across North Carolina, and cases like this one rise or fall on the medical record. After suit was filed, the lawyers built the claim through documents and sworn testimony rather than argument.

Both sides deposed the parties and the medical experts. That phase is where an obstetric case is usually won: counsel works through the fetal monitoring strips, fixes the timeline of when the warning signs appeared, and shows how long the delivery was delayed against the standard of care the hospital owed. Under North Carolina law, a medical malpractice plaintiff has to prove that the providers fell below the accepted standard of care and that the breach caused the harm, and the monitoring data sat at the center of both questions. The depositions and the documents framed what the hospital had to answer at mediation.

The dispute never reached a jury. The parties resolved it at a mediated settlement conference, where the hospital agreed to pay $7.95 million. Because this was a negotiated settlement and not a trial verdict, there was no appeal and no remittitur to cut the figure.

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly reported the settlement on May 15, 2023, listing the recovery for the family at $7.95 million.