$11.35 Million Verdict for Teen Brain-Injured at Birth by Forceps Delivery

On April 26, 2001, Lisa Ellis arrived at Aultman Hospital in Canton, Ohio, in active labor with her first child. Her obstetrician, Dr. Laura Fortner of Atrium OB/GYN, faced a delivery complicated by slow fetal descent. After a vacuum extractor failed to assist the birth, Dr. Fortner applied Tucker-McLane forceps and completed a vaginal delivery.

The newborn arrived with an Apgar score of one. Nurses documented severe caput swelling and bruising across the infant's head. Neonatal intensive care staff warned the family of potential permanent injury, and a subsequent MRI confirmed structural brain damage at the site of the contusions. Doctors diagnosed hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and neonatal seizures. The child, identified in court records as G.E., developed permanent structural brain damage that produced cognitive and developmental impairments, which grew apparent to his parents as social and learning delays emerged in his childhood years.

Matthew and Lisa Ellis filed suit in 2016, retaining The Becker Law Firm. Attorney Michael Becker, joined by David Skall, argued that Dr. Fortner deviated from the accepted standard of care by failing to correctly evaluate the size and position of the fetus, failing to appreciate the need for a cesarean section, and failing to properly advise the family on the viability of a cesarean birth. Plaintiffs contended that the combination of a failed vacuum attempt followed by forceps extraction caused the hypoxic injury that damaged their son's brain.

After a two-week trial, the jury deliberated one day before returning a verdict on January 16, 2018. The award totaled $11,350,000: $9.5 million for future economic losses, including long-term care and lost earning capacity, and $1.85 million for future noneconomic losses.

Dr. Fortner and Atrium OB/GYN appealed. The Ohio Court of Appeals, Ninth District, reviewed nine assignments of error, including a challenge to the trial court's decision to admit the plaintiffs' causation theory, 'cranial compression ischemic encephalopathy,' offered through expert Dr. Barry Schifrin. The defendants had moved to exclude that testimony under Daubert, and the trial court denied the motion. The appeals court rejected each argument and affirmed the judgment in a March 31, 2021 opinion (No. 28992). The defendants then sought review by the Ohio Supreme Court, which declined to accept the case, and the $11.35 million verdict became final.