Verdict: $900,000

The plaintiff mother gave vaginal birth to a healthy baby boy and experienced an unrecognized fourth degree tear to her rectal sphincter muscle that was not properly repaired after delivery. After her discharge home, she developed an infection which evolved into life-threatening sepsis and necrosis. This infection left the plaintiff with partial rectal incontinence and scarring to her vaginal area.

These types of wounds at delivery and their subsequent infection are defended as a recognized complication of delivery. However, the plaintiff's attorney Kurt Lloyd successfully proved that defendant family practitioner, performed an incomplete surgical repair of her tear after delivery, which allowed her wound to become infected.

Jacobs v. Kobler, M.D.