$9.5m Award to Birth-Injured Twin

New York Law Journal

$9.5 Million Award To Birth-Injured Twin

A MARYLAND jury returned a $9.5 million award yesterday to a surviving twin who suffers from cerebral palsy caused by the failure of two obstetricians to diagnose a birth defect in her sister and perform a cesarean section.

Manhattan attorney Bert Blitz of Glaser, Shandell & Blitz, the plaintiff's attorney, said the Montogomery County jury determined that the injuries to Cecilia Cooley, now 9 could have been prevented if the doctors had done a sonogram during pregnancy that would have revealed her sibling's abnormalities that"contaminated" her system. He said the defendants also were found negligent in failing to do a sonogram in light of the mother's history of high-risk pregnancies.

The defendants, Drs. Rolando Perez and Roman Koval, along with their professional association, Band, Badway & Goodrige, were represented by William Ehmantraught of Annapolis.

Dec. 10, 1992