An unbelievable $1 billion settlement to a Utah family whose healthy pregnancy ultimately turned into a life-altering nightmare was recently handed down in a local courthouse, creating a new legal precedent for the state.
The payout was made in response to a case where horrible wrongdoing was found at Jordan Valley Medical Center, Utah. It used to be previously owned by Steward Health Care, where the birth of 5-year-old Azaylee went very wrong.
Looking forward to meeting their daughter, Anyssa Zancanella, and her partner, Danniel McMicheal, who walked into the West Valley City hospital in 2019. In reality, they went through a violent situation overseen by two rookie nurses and a doctor who, according to court documents, put sleep over taking care of patients. Allegedly untrained personnel injected her with risky labor drugs, ignored signals of danger, and called the obstetrician only to have her get back to her bed, even though there were severe signs of labor.
Azaylee was born badly wounded, puffy, and bruised by the time the delayed C-section had been carried out.
Judge awards family nearly $1B for botched delivery of baby at Utah hospital he blasted as ‘most dangerous place on the planet’ https://t.co/dm2G7VlaLg pic.twitter.com/Qo6XGJd49X
— New York Post (@nypost) August 28, 2025
After being taken by helicopter to a children’s hospital, medical personnel confirmed that she had sustained severe damage to her brain. Judge Patrick Corum was forthright in his verdict, saying that the baby would have been safer being born “the bathroom of a gas station, or a hut somewhere in Africa,” and calling out the hospital as “the most dangerous place on the planet for her (…) birth.”
According to the 2021 lawsuit, Zancanella had a healthy pregnancy up until the time of her delivery.
Azaylee needs 24-hour care, has trouble with seizures, and cannot seem to talk. She has no way to sleep alone, so both of her parents bunk in their bed with her. “[Azaylee] had her life stolen. We all did. We had her taken from us,” Zancanella observed.
“She is trapped. I know that my daughter is in there, but she can’t come out, and I think of that every day.”
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Zancanella will be given $951 million of the $1 billion settlement, with her young daughter and McMicheal splitting the remaining money. Even though the decision is landmark, it will be hard to gain access to the sum of cash because Steward Health Care, Utah, is declaring bankruptcy and owes billions to its other creditors, as per The Mirror.
The family’s lawyers are trying to get punitive compensation that is no less than half of the total amount.
This Utah case stresses hospital responsibility and regulation, especially concerning healthcare systems’ increasing budgetary challenges and staffing shortages. For the Zancanella family, justice is far greater than money.
Azaylee’s story is used as a painful reminder that one careless night may forever alter the course of someone’s life.
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