Florida Malpractice Suit Over Cerebral Palsy Results in $19.2M Jury Award

A Florida jury has awarded $19.2 million to the family of a little girl who was allegedly overdosed on nutrients just days after being born, and now suffers from cerebral palsy and is blind. 

The Florida malpractice lawsuit was filed by the family of Kiarra Smith, who was born three months premature at HealthPark Medical Center in 2007. According to the complaint, the infant was the victim of a prescription mistake and the hospital gave her a dose of nutrients 100 times more powerful than the doctor had prescribed.

The medication mistake caused Smith, who was only 15 days old, to go into cardiac arrest and suffer further complications.

The lawsuit was filed against the center’s operator, Lee Memorial Health System (LMHS), which has maintained that Smith’s medical problems are the result of her extremely premature birth, despite acknowledging that it made a serious error in her care.

Cerebral palsy can be caused by a brain injury that occurs before, during or shortly after birth. If the brain of a baby is deprived of oxygen, it can result in irreversible damage that leaves the child with developmental problems, loss of motor functions and other life-long injuries and disabilities associated with cerebral palsy.

Although cerebral palsy can occur without a medical mistake, when the exercise of the proper standards of medical care could have prevented the child’s brain from being deprived of oxygen, medical malpractice lawsuits over cerebral palsy are often filed to obtain compensation for the child.

The jury awarded $19.2 million in damages last month to Smith, who will be wheelchair bound and require care for the rest of her life as a result of the disability. However, according to a local media report by WBBH News, the award could be limited to $200,000 under Florida liability caps.