$800,000 Settlement for Brachial Plexus Injury / Erb’s Palsy

Blume Donnelly partner David M. Fried represented a little girl and her family in a case of a mismanaged shoulder dystocia at birth. “Shoulder dystocia” occurs when a baby’s shoulder gets trapped behind the mother’s pubic bone during delivery. A doctor or midwife is supposed to use certain maneuvers to free the stuck shoulder. In addition, to prevent injury to the brachial plexus nerves running from the neck through the shoulder/arm, one should not exert excessive force in attempts to deliver the child. In this case, the doctor failed to utilize the proper maneuvers, and either applied excessive traction, or applied traction for too long a period of time, causing a brachial plexus nerve injury. The child has required two surgeries to treat the injury, and still has limitations in the use, mobility and strength of her arm. David settled this case for $800,000 with $530,000 going into a structure that will pay almost $2,000,000.