$1.8 million awarded in birth injury

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It's an eye-popping jury verdict, but it's only some consolation to the parents of an Omaha girl who lost the use of her arm at birth three years ago.

A Douglas County jury this week awarded $1.8 million to a 3-year-old girl whose left arm is effectively paralyzed after she suffered ripped and ruptured nerves during her delivery in June 2008.

Jurors deliberated more than four hours before returning the verdict against Dr. Ann Sjulin, an obstetrician with Mid-City OB-GYN of Omaha.

Joseph and Patrick Cullan, attorneys for the parents of Chaylee Bentzinger-Hill, said the doctor made a couple of critical mistakes in delivering Chaylee, a large baby weighing in at a little more than 9 pounds.

Joe Cullan said Sjulin used a vacuum to help Chaylee through the birth canal — a move that Cullan argued wasn't necessary. And when the baby's shoulder got stuck behind her mother's pelvic bone, Cullan said, the doctor pulled down on the baby's head — a maneuver that caused severe nerve damage and essentially left Chaylee's arm useless.

"She panicked and she pulled," Cullan said. "What you're never, ever supposed to do is pull downward on the baby's head. This case shows why. Three nerves were ripped out and two nerves were ruptured in half."

Thomas Shomaker, an attorney for Sjulin, said he and his client were "saddened by the verdict."

"We don't think Dr. Sjulin did anything inappropriate or we wouldn't have tried the case," Shomaker said. "But this youngster has an injury — and I think the sympathy of the jury was just too hard to overcome."

It is the second time a Douglas County jury has awarded a $1 million-plus verdict for injuries a baby suffered during a delivery. In March 2010, the Cullans secured a $1.3 million verdict for a Spalding, Neb., couple whose baby suffered a paralyzing arm injury at birth. In that case, a midwife ripped three of the baby's nerves in a similar maneuver.

Joe Cullan, who also holds a medical degree, said doctors have ways to deal with shoulder dystocia, the medical term for a baby's shoulder getting stuck behind the pelvic bone. They can either manipulate the mother's legs or exert pressure on the pelvic area, he said.

While doctors sometimes rush for fear that a "stuck" baby's oxygen levels will drop, Cullan said, Chaylee's levels were strong and the baby was not in distress.

Three years later, Chaylee has a severely disabled left arm, one that will forever be shorter than her right arm and likely of little use, Joe Cullan said. Cullan said Chaylee has only "flickers of movement" in her left hand.

Chaylee's mother, Charlene Bentzinger, said she already has spotted her daughter, now 3½ years old, studying other kids at day care and trying to sort out why she is different.

"She's just starting to notice that she does have a disability," said Bentzinger, a nurse. "It's been extremely hard as a parent. Besides all of her medical needs, you just worry about her mental health as she grows up. No parent wants to see their child teased."

The jury directed all of the award to Chaylee, save for $5,000 to Bentzinger and to Chaylee's father, Charles Hill Jr., who also was in court on his daughter's behalf.

A little more than $1.2 million was awarded for Chaylee's past and future medical bills, as well as any decrease in wages she will incur because of the injury; $600,000 was awarded to her for pain and suffering.

Chaylee and her parents have traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for two surgeries where doctors have tried to transplant muscles, tendons, even nerves to try to restore her left arm movement, Cullan said. She has more surgeries ahead.

"It's a bittersweet feeling," Bentzinger said. "It's comforting to know the doctor has to take accountability. At the same time, my daughter is never going to be 100 percent."

Contact the writer:

402-444-1275, todd.cooper@owh.com

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