Failure to Recognize Symptoms Following Surgery Causes Death of Child

A child was born with a small hole between his esophagus and windpipe, an uncommon but not obscure medical condition. An operation was performed to repair and close the hole, but unfortunately, approximately two in 10 repairs are not completely successful, requiring a second round of surgery. Following his surgery, the child would wheeze, cough, run low fevers and began to develop pneumonia. Despite these symptoms, the child was fed regularly. When symptoms worsened, the attending pediatric surgeon and attending neonatologist used feeding tubes and administered antibiotics. Each time, after days of this treatment approach, the problems would clear, and regular feedings would begin again, but each time, the problems reappeared. Forty-one days after his surgery, the child suffered from immediate onset, massive pneumonia and by the time he was resuscitated, he was globally brain damaged and in a vegetative state. Only then was the leak discovered, and he died six months later. A Clore Law attorney tried this medical malpractice case in front of a jury, and the jury ruled in favor of the child's parents. After appeals, they were awarded 1.4 million dollars.