Wayne County Jury Awards $120.9 Million in Birth Injury Case Against Henry Ford Hospital

In the early evening of June 24, 2010, fetal monitors at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit recorded a non-reassuring heart rate pattern. The attending obstetrician, Dr. Leila Hajjar-Nolan, responded by ordering an emergency cesarean section at 9:52 p.m. That order was not carried out for more than two hours and nineteen minutes. During the same window, nursing staff halted continuous fetal heart rate monitoring for approximately one hour, leaving the care team without real-time data on a baby whose condition was deteriorating.

By the time K'jon Drake was delivered, severe oxygen deprivation had caused widespread brain injury. His diagnoses included spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, a chronic seizure disorder, cortical visual impairment, meconium aspiration syndrome, and persistent pulmonary hypertension. He cannot speak or walk and requires full-time, around-the-clock care. His mother, Kirsten Drake, filed suit in Wayne County Circuit Court in December 2020 on his behalf, naming Henry Ford Health System, Dr. Hajjar-Nolan, and nurses Sara Sorbo, Laura Baker-Fraser, Cynthia Infante, and Holly Drake.

The case turned on two interlocking failures. First, an emergency C-section ordered by the attending physician sat unexecuted for over two hours while the fetus remained in documented distress. Second, nursing staff stopped continuous fetal heart monitoring during that critical period, removing the real-time information that might have prompted faster action. Plaintiffs argued that both failures, together, allowed the asphyxia to reach the severity that caused permanent neurological damage.

Brian J. McKeen and John R. LaParl, Jr. of McKeen and Associates tried the case before Judge Charles Hegarty. After a month-long trial, a Wayne County jury returned its verdict on March 28, 2024, in the amount of $120,896,596.51. The jury allocated approximately $517,000 to past medical expenses, $100.9 million to future medical care, $11.7 million to future economic damages, and $6.2 million to future non-economic damages.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which had subsidized K'jon's ongoing care through public benefits, was a co-plaintiff entitled to recover a portion of the award. Henry Ford Health System stated it did not believe the verdict was consistent with the facts and announced it would appeal vigorously. Defense counsel Barbara A. Martin represented the health system at trial. As of the March 2024 verdict date, no post-trial reduction or remittitur had been entered by the court.