The family of a baby who suffered severe birth injuries as a result of a negligent delivery at a military hospital in Honolulu in 2005 received an $11 million settlement from the U.S. government last week.

The baby is now a four-year-old girl who suffers from brain damage, has cerebral palsy and is unable to talk or walk. According to the girl's attorney, she will always have to be fed through a tube.

The girl was born at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu. A fetal monitor showed signs of distress and doctors determined that she needed to be removed. However, the baby was not delivered until an hour after this determination was made. When the baby was finally delivered, the umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around her neck.

A first-year intern inserted an oxygen tube. However, the air was delivered to the infant's stomach rather than her lungs. Forty minutes passed before the error was discovered, and the girl had already suffered severe brain damage. 

Tripler spokeswoman Janet Clark said that the hospital accepts total responsibility and has made changes and adopted policies to ensure that mistakes like those made to this baby will not happen again.

The girl's attorney reported that the settlement will be used to buy an annuity that will make monthly payments throughout the girl's life.

Because Tripler is a military hospital and settlements with the federal government are made public, it receives more scrutiny than private hospitals. Settlements with private hospitals are usually kept confidential. Tripler has paid other large settlements in recent years. The hospital settled after a boy removed from a ventilator suffered cardiac arrest and after a baby was given carbon dioxide rather than oxygen.

Source: Navy Times "$11M settlement in botched baby delivery" 9/22/10