Western Pennsylvania Jury Awards $16M in Med Mal Action
By Aleeza Furman
A jury in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, awarded Jeff and Lisa Latham $16 million in a medical malpractice verdict over the stillbirth of their child. The verdict included $10 million for wrongful death, $5 million for pain and suffering, and more than $1 million for loss of income. The jury deemed Dr. Patricia Vigder to be 70% negligent, Dr. Paula Youngdahl to be 25% negligent, and Heritage Valley Health System Inc. to be 5% negligent. Pretrial documents indicated that Lisa Latham's pregnancy was considered high-risk and that she suffered from several health complications during the pregnancy. Prior to the stillbirth, she went to the hospital twice, complaining of swelling in her extremities, and while tests during the second visit showed fetal tachycardia, her doctor did not order further bloodwork or urinalysis. There was no fetal movement or heartbeat found via ultrasound four days later, and Latham had a C-section. The plaintiffs argued that the failure of Latham's doctors to diagnose her severe preeclampsia led to the stillbirth, but Heritage Valley Health's pretrial memo said Latham's medical and other records "unequivocally demonstrate that she did not have chronic gestational hypertension or preeclampsia and that her gestational diabetes was timely and appropriately diagnosed, treated and managed." The defendants plan to appeal the verdict.
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