The jury awarded close to $25 million for the child, who is now age 6, $825,000 for the child’s parents, and $15 million in punitive damages based on the alleged reckless or wanton conduct of two physicians and two registered nurses at the hospital…$40M New Mexico Medical Malpractice Verdict For Brain Injured Infant Due To Neonatal Hypoglycemia
The child was born three weeks prematurely in April 2019. The hospital allegedly failed to diagnose the newborn’s hypoglycemia that was due to high insulin levels. He was discharged from the hospital two days after his birth.
One week later after his birth, the infant became “fussy and febrile with less active feeding,” according to the lawsuit filed in 2022. He was readmitted to the same hospital.
On the eighth day after his birth, he experienced seizures and suffered respiratory arrest. It was only after the effects on his heart and brain became evident that his blood glucose levels were tested and found to be critically low.
The plaintiffs were able to show at trial that the hospital violated its own policy that premature newborns have their glucose levels tested within 24 hours after birth.