$8 Million To Boy in Malpractice Case in Maine

Jury Awards $8 Million To Boy And Mother In CMMC Malpractice Case

Last Updated: 10/26/2007 11:34:44 AM
LEWISTON (NEWS CENTER) -- A jury has sided with a 5-year-old boy and his mother in a nearly $8 million medical malpractice lawsuit against a Lewiston hospital and one of its midwives. It's the largest malpractice award ever handed down in Androscoggin County.
Sasha Emond went to Central Maine Medical Center in April 2002 in induce labor with her first child. While there, fetal monitors showed her child's heart rate was dropping.

"When those decelerations started to occur, the providers on the scene should have gotten the covering doctor; who was actually present in the hospital' and he could have done an emergency delivery, which would have spared Odysseus, the little boy that I represent, a catastrophic brain injury," said Julian Sweet, who represented the family.

The lawyer for CMMC, Chris Nyhan says the hospital is disappointed with the verdict. Nyan said the evidence was presented to a screening panel before the trial and the panel found the hospital and its staff to be in compliance with guidelines.

"With him, I'm happy to take care of him," said Sasha Emond while holding her son. "It's just the fact that he could have had a normal life."

Emond says since her son was born her dream has been to buy a one-level house that would make it easy for Odysseus to move around in his wheelchair.

WLBZ2.com