A jury in Arizona awarded a verdict against Banner Health at the conclusion of a medical malpractice trial. This is reported to be the largest medical malpractice verdict in Arizona history.
The jury unanimously found Banner Health and its employees, including Dr. Laurie P. Erickson, negligent in their management of the plaintiff’s labor and delivery, which led to oxygen deprivation during birth, resulting in cerebral palsy for the newborn. Banner Health claimed to have “accidentally lost” the electronic fetal monitoring strips, and at trial it argued that plaintiffs could not prove defendants did anything wrong without the missing strips. The problem with this argument is that when healthcare providers fail to keep critically important medical records, it creates a presumption that the records would have been unfavorable to the defendants who “lost” them.
Banner Health has stated it disagrees with the verdict and is considering filing post-trial motions challenging the outcome, and potentially an appeal to a higher court.
Contact us for free case evaluation.