A family was awarded nearly $1 billion (£740 million) after shocking mistakes made when a baby was being delivered were revealed.
It is reported that the now five-year-old, Azaylee, will likely suffer a lifetime of disabilities due to the hospital’s negligence.
Third District Judge Patrick Corum in Salt Lake County said in his decision that mum Anyssa Zancanella ‘would have been better off delivering this baby at the bathroom of a gas station, or in a hut somewhere’ than in the hospital.
“Literally, this was the most dangerous place on the planet for her to have given birth," he said of Jordan Valley Medical Centre, then owned by Steward Health Care.
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Zancanella and the baby's father Danniel McMichael had travelled for a little getaway in Salt Like City, away from their home in Wyoming, when she went into labour on 12 October 2019.
The woman was then forced to deliver her baby girl at the local hospital, rather than where she had originally hoped and planned.
And here she ended up with nurses who had only just finished their training the day she was admitted, with them now described as ‘inexperienced’.
They were accused of failing to react to signs that the baby was in distress as well as giving Zancanella ‘excessive’ doses of the labour-inducing hormone Pitocin over hours.
The family’s lawsuit claimed that when the nurses finally told the on-call doctor about the baby’s red-flag levels of blood pressure and the woman’s fever, the doctor just went back to sleep in a room right by them.
Staff then did not intervene and perform a caesarean section delivery until the woman had been there for over a day. Doctors believe that the baby was therefore so deprived of oxygen and had her brain damaged so severely that she will be disabled for life.
It was claimed that when Azaylee was delivered via the c-section, she had a ‘misshapen head’, ‘swollen’ face and bruising and bulging to the front of her scalp.
Now, the five-year-old needs 24/7 care due to regular seizures, is mostly non-verbal and lawyers said she doesn’t have the cognitive or executive function others do at her age.
Doctors reportedly believe she will never be able to work, drive a car or go to college.
Her mum said during the case that Azaylee ‘had her life stolen’.
“She is trapped. I know that my daughter is in there, but she can’t come out and I think of that every day,” Zancanella added.
Judge Corum awarded the family $951 million (£704.5 million) earlier this month, having found Steward Health Care liable.
However, the family now need to attempt to collect this from the hospital chain which is currently in bankruptcy. Their lawyers hope they will be at least able to collect half, which represents the punitive damages.
LADbible has contacted Steward Health Care for comment.
Jess Battison