Mother Awarded $35.4 Million After Being Paralyzed In Childbirth, Requires 24-Hour Care
A 35-year-old mother, Andrea Larkin, from Massachusetts was awarded $35.4 million after she suffered a stroke that left her partially paralyzed after childbirth. Larkin now requires 24-hour care. The mother and her husband say that the stroke was a result of medical malpractice by her previous doctor who failed to enter information about a known brain abnormality into the patient database. As a result, the woman’s OB-GYN did not know about the brain condition; therefore, allowed the woman to have a vaginal birth despite the high risk of stroke. The woman says she would not have suffered the massive stroke if the first doctor had correctly entered her information into the database as she would have been offered a c-section. However, many are wondering why the pregnant woman did not inform her doctor of her condition.
The Boston Globe reports that 25-year-old Andrea Larkin, a former school teacher, ran the Boston Marathon in 2004 and sought a doctor after a number of dizzy spells. Dedham Medical Associates found that the woman had some brain abnormalities that presented on a CT and MRI scan. Dr. Jehane Johnston, a physician who examined Larkin, should have then placed Larkin in a central patient database that listed her abnormalities for other doctors to see. However, Johnston failed to place Larkin on the database after discovering the findings.
Four years after being diagnosed with the brain abnormalities, Andrea became pregnant. The Daily Mail notes that Andrea did not personally inform her OB-GYN about the brain abnormality, but instead relied on the patient database to do so. As a result, the OB-GYN allowed Andrea to have a vaginal birth which resulted in a massive stroke just hours after giving birth to her daughter.
The OB-GYN said that Andrea would have been given a c-section had she known of the brain abnormalities as vaginal birth is too risky for someone with her condition. However, the doctor says Andrea was not in the database and did not inform her of the issue so she was unaware that the risk existed. Andrea and her husband filed the malpractice suit against the first doctor, not the OB-GYN, as they claim he put Andrea at undue risk by not following required procedure by listing her in the patient database.
Andrea’s husband says the $35.4 million award, which was over $41 million with interest added, will be used to make Andrea more comfortable and to “give her the best possible support that she needs.” The Dedham Medical Associates say their hearts go out to Andrea but that they will be fighting the award as they disagree with the judgement.
Many commenters on the story seem to agree with the doctor that Andrea Larkin should have taken more responsibility for her own care. Some are wondering why Andrea did not inform the doctor of her condition herself instead of relying on a database. What do you think? Was Andrea responsible for informing her OB-GYN of her condition or was the first doctor liable when he did not enter her into the database?
[Image Credit: Facebook/ Andrea Larkin]
