Edwin Stuardi, member at Helmsing, Leach, Herlong, Newman & Rouse, P.C., recently obtained a defense verdict in Mobile County, Alabama for a local hospital in a medical malpractice case arising out of the deaths of premature twins.
In the lawsuit, Plaintiff alleged that the twins’ deaths were caused by the negligence of the Emergency Department nurses in failing to properly assess and diagnose her with an infection. Plaintiff also asserted personal injury claims on her own behalf as well as mental anguish based on the premature delivery of the twins. At trial, the hospital established, through well-developed testimony from Plaintiff’s treating physicians and retained experts, that the twins’ deaths were not caused by any breach of the standard of care by the hospital nurses, but instead were the unfortunate but unavoidable consequence of early preterm labor caused by chorioamnionitis. In closing, Plaintiff requested over $20 million; however, the testimony from the treating physicians and retained experts was sufficient to overcome the plea to the jury’s emotions and a defense verdict was rendered on all the Plaintiff’s claims after less than an hour of deliberation.