$144M Verdict

In 2011, Beam Legal Team and Geoffrey Fieger won the largest obstetrical malpractice verdict in United States history. A Detroit metropolitan county jury found that the obstetrician, residents, and labor and delivery nurses committed multiple acts of negligence in providing both prenatal and labor and delivery care. Among other things, the nurses and residents failed to properly assess the estimate fetal weight of the Baby Markell. Furthermore they mixed up two patients, which resulted in the belief that Baby Markell’s mother would be having a 7-pound baby when in fact Baby Markell was almost 11 pounds. Thereafter, they administered Pitocin causing excessive hyper stimulation of the uterus, instead of delivering by C-section, and Baby Markell was forced through the birth canal. When Baby Markell was finally delivered, she was battered, bruised and broken. She had significant bruising, a broken clavicle, and significant brain hemorrhages. The records of Williams Beaumont hospital actually describe: “body and head with multiple bruising. Right side of head edematous [swollen]. Occasional tremors [seizures].” “Difficult vaginal delivery”; and (“General large baby with scalp and facial bruising and swelling.”)