$33 Million Verdict After Doctor Took Stockbroker Call During Delivery
A Florida jury issued a $33.8 million medical malpractice award to the family of a baby who suffered permanent brain damage during a delivery in which the obstetrician paused to take an eight-minute phone call from his stockbroker and tried to cover his tracks by falsifying the mother’s medical record.
After the verdict, the Florida Department of Health reopened its investigation into the physician, according to a report by The Miami Herald. (The report is available online at: http://hrld.us/2q4pfa7.)
Nineteen-year-old Marla Dixon delivered her child at North Shore Medical Center in Miami, and a jury found that her doctor made a series of errors leading to the child’s permanent disability. Ata Atogho, MD, ordered nurses to restart a drug to strengthen contractions, failed to perform a cesarean section, and walked away from the patient for long periods, according to the newspaper report. One absence was for an eight-minute phone call with his stockbroker, the jury determined.
Dixon testified that the doctor blamed her child’s injuries on her for not pushing hard enough. The doctor falsified the mother’s medical record with a note that made it appear she had refused a cesarean section, according to the testimony of the nurse in charge of delivery. The mother maintains Atogho never apologized for his actions.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office represented Atogho because he worked for the federally funded Jessie Trice Community Health Center at the time. The U.S. government will pay the $33.8 million fine.
In addition to the Dixon case, Atogho delivered two babies the same year who were permanently brain damaged, and a third who was disabled for life. All the mothers received care at Jessie Trice, which serves many of Miami’s low-income and uninsured residents, the newspaper reports.
A Florida jury issued a $33.8 million medical malpractice award to the family of a baby who suffered permanent brain damage during a delivery in which the obstetrician paused to take an eight-minute phone call from his stockbroker and tried to cover his tracks by falsifying the mother’s medical record.
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