Cook County jury awards $28 million to Bellwood family after son suffers severe birth injuries

Cook County jury awards $28M in childbirth injury case A Cook County jury has awarded $28 million to a Bellwood family after their son suffered severe injuries during childbirth. The Brief A Cook County jury has awarded $28 million to a Bellwood family after their son suffered severe injuries during childbirth in December 2023. The family filed a medical negligence lawsuit against five doctors at University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago, alleging they failed to recognize warning signs and perform an emergency C-section. The child suffered permanent brain damage and will live with lifelong disabilities. CHICAGO - A Cook County jury has awarded $28 million to a Bellwood family after their son suffered severe injuries during childbirth. Family awarded $28 million What we know: The verdict comes more than two years after Teray Boyd filed a medical negligence lawsuit against five doctors at the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago. The complaint alleged those doctors failed to meet the standard of care during her labor in December 2023. According to Boyd's attorney, Stephen Blecha with Coplan + Crane, her pregnancy had been smooth, but things changed during labor when warning signs emerged that he says should have prompted an emergency C-section. The lawsuit also alleges doctors failed to recognize abnormal fetal heart rate patterns, continued to administer the labor-inducing drug Pitocin despite warning signs, and did not perform a C-section. According to Blecha, Boyd's son, Lenyx, suffered a severe brain injury caused by a critical reduction in oxygen and blood flow to his brain. Blecha maintains the injury could have been prevented if doctors had taken a different approach to her delivery. "That monitor showed on December 9th that this baby was not getting enough oxygenated blood. When that happens, the baby is put at great risk of severe catastrophic injury and what needed to happen was there needed to be a change in plan," Blecha explained. "They were planning on a vaginal delivery, and they needed to change the plan to a C-section, unfortunately that was never done, and young Lenyx was born on the verge of death." Blecha says Lenyx required resuscitation after birth and a lengthy stay in the NICU. "In this case, Lenyx was not tolerating that labor, he was not getting enough oxygen, and it was there to be seen and it was there to be acted upon, and for one reason or another that maybe nobody will ever know, it was not acted upon that night." According to Blecha, Lenyx suffered permanent brain damage and will live with lifelong disabilities as a result of his birth injuries. While the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit — five doctors who practiced there were. FOX Chicago reached out to the hospital for a response to the verdict but has not yet heard back. Mother launches nonprofits to help families What's next: Lenyx is turning three years old on Dec. 10. Boyd has since started two nonprofits. The Beautiful Blossoming Women Foundation supports young moms-to-be. She also created the Live 4 Lenyx Foundation, supporting children with disabilities and complex medical needs, along with their families. The Source: The information in this report came from FOX Chicago reporting, court proceedings and statements from attorney Stephen Blecha. Health Chicago News