Parents Awarded $17 Million in Cerebral Palsy Case Against Hospital

A jury in West Virginia awarded Mark and Lori Pochron $17 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit against a hospital whose negligence resulted in their newborn’s cerebral palsy.

Mark Pochron claims his wife’s obstetrician, Dr. Louise Van Riper, promised the couple that the Monongalia General Hospital in Morgantown would be a safe place to deliver their baby since the hospital had a modern birthing center.

However, their daughter Marissa suffered permanent brain damage due to lack of oxygen during the labor. She developed cerebral palsy, cortical blindness, and cognitive disabilities that she will live with for the rest of her life.

The Pochron’s attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, said in a press conference that the hospital staff ignored the beeping fetal monitor during the birth, which should have warned them of complications of the labor.

Instead, the lawsuit claimed a nurse switched off the monitor. Dr. Van Riper was in and out of the room and did not spend enough time with her patient to notice any mishaps in the labor.

Nine hours after it became evident that the baby was suffering fetal distress, Dr. Van Riper performed an emergency cesarean section (C-section).

After the birth, Marissa was in the hospital room with her parents when her mother noticed she had turned blue. Mark Pochron immediately alerted the hospital staff.

“And then, the records are non-existent for four hours,” Fieger said. “It’s just unbelievable this would happen in America. The experts said this wouldn’t be acceptable in the battlefields of Iraq.”

Marissa was later moved to Ruby Memorial Hospital where she was a resident for two weeks. Her parents wondered what had gone wrong.

“The damage Marissa suffered was 100 percent preventable,” Fieger said. According to experts, the sole cause of the baby’s condition was a result of the lack of oxygen to her brain, which could have been evaded if the hospital had performed a C-section earlier in the labor.

The $17 million dollar award is one of the largest ever given in the history of West Virginia lawsuits. Mark Pochron said he would love to have his daughter healthy, but knowing the money will let them take care of her for the rest of her life gives them peace of mind.

If you have a child with cerebral palsy, contact a cerebral palsy attorney who can obtain compensation to help cover the cost of treatment and care.