SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A 3-year-old girl who a federal judge in Sacramento ruled suffered a brain injury during her delivery because the doctor waited too long to deliver her via C-section has been awarded $9.6 million in damages.
The family’s attorneys said Monday the judge also awarded the girl’s mother, Micaela Palacio, $250,000 in compensation for her emotional distress during the delivery.
U.S. District Court Judge John Mendez ruled on Oct. 28 that Dr. Paul Davainis waited too long to perform a C-section, despite evidence that the baby’s heart rate was worsening and that her mother would not be able to deliver vaginally.
Mendez said the girl born at Banner-Lassen Hospital in Susanville will never be able to walk, talk, or care for herself. She cannot see and must be fed through a feeding tube into her stomach. She also suffers occasional seizures.
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