Mom and Son, 6, Awarded $18.2 Million After Jury Finds Doctor Negligent for Boy’s Lifelong Disfigurement and Disability

The child will never “hug his mother with both arms, hold his own child with both arms, or simply clap his hands,” his lawyer said in a statement

NEED TO KNOW

• A North Carolina jury awarded $18.2 million to a mother and son for injuries allegedly caused during the boy’s birth
• Naqah Lake suffers from a lifelong disability due to nerve damage caused by a doctor’s alleged improper delivery maneuver
• The 6-year-old has permanent nerve damage in his shoulder and needs assistance with things like using the bathroom and getting dressed

North Carolina jurors have agreed to award millions of dollars to a mother and son after deciding that one doctor’s alleged negligence during labor resulted in permanent nerve injuries and a lifelong disability to the young boy.

Laurel Browne and her son, Naqah Lake, filed a lawsuit against WakeMed and four members of its medical staff in 2022. Browne and Naqah, now 6, alleged the group failed to properly treat Browne during her pregnancy and delivery at the health provider’s Raleigh hospital in September 2019, resulting in permanent nerve damage and disfigurement in Naqah’s left arm.

In July of this year, a five-week trial concluded, with a jury awarding Browne and Naqah $18.2 million, per court records viewed by PEOPLE. That sum will likely be reduced significantly by a judge, however, the North Carolina newspaper The News & Observer reported.

On July 2, the 12-person jury in Wake County found that Naqah was allegedly injured by the negligence of just one of the medical staff named in the case, Tara Brenner. She was a third-year resident at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the time of Naqah’s birth, per The News & Observer, and is now an obstetrician-gynecologist working for WakeMed.

In the lawsuit, lawyers for Naqah and Browne argued that the boy’s injuries were preventable and caused by Brenner’s alleged actions, which did not meet the state’s standard of care.

While Naqah’s shoulder was stuck during labor, Brenner allegedly rotated his head before the rest of his body had been delivered, per the family’s complaint.

“Baby Naqah had all five nerves in his left brachial plexus avulsed and ripped from his spinal cord at birth by the negligence of the doctor who performed a maneuver that should never have been performed,” one of the family’s attorneys, Lisa Weinstein, said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

Naqah was not breathing when he was delivered, and he stayed in the Raleigh hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit for nine days after, during which his left arm remained limp. He was later diagnosed with a severe nerve injury to his left shoulder and arm and underwent surgery at 6 months old, but continued to suffer from a brachial plexus nerve injury known as Erb’s palsy, the family’s complaint claims.

The Cleveland Clinic describes Erb’s palsy as “muscle weakness in the arm or shoulder that can occur as a result of an injury sustained during birth or later in life” that is “common in infants who injured their shoulders during delivery.”

For Naqah, it is a lifelong disability, as he has permanent weakness and disfigurement in his left arm and has limited use of the appendage as a result. The 6-year-old needs assistance with things like using the bathroom, opening containers and getting dressed, and he has a student helper at school, The News & Observer reported, citing Weinstein.

Weinstein also pointed out the psychological effects of Naqah’s injury, like the reactions of others and the heartbreak he experiences as a result of growing up with an arm that does not work like those around him, per the newspaper.

Grant & Eisenhofer — the law firm of Weinstein and her partner in the case, Gerald Jowers — argued that as a result of alleged Brenner’s negligence, Naqah has, and will, continue to experience “physical and mental pain and suffering, disfigurement, disability, and permanent injuries.”

Brenner’s lawyers, meanwhile, argued that she was not negligent, and they said that the then-medical student met the appropriate standard of care.

Brenner was found negligent, but her attorneys argued that her actions were not grossly negligent, and the jury agreed. Because of this, the $18.2 million verdict awarded to Naqah — $2.2 million for economic damages and $16 million for non-economic damages — will likely be reduced to less than $1 million when a judge is given the final say on how much WakeMed owes the mother and son, per The News & Observer.

There is a state law in North Carolina that limits the amount of some medical malpractice payouts to $712,847, unless the jury finds gross negligence, according to the newspaper.

The family’s lawyers still consider the jury’s verdict to be a win. “The jury rightly recognized that Naqah will never be able to play sports that require both hands, hug his mother with both arms, hold his own child with both arms, or simply clap his hands, because of a ‘never maneuver,’” Weinstein said in a statement shared with PEOPLE. “We are grateful for the jury for holding WakeMed accountable for the lifelong disability it caused.”

“The defendants spent four years denying responsibility and refusing to take accountability and compensate our clients,” Weinstein added in a separate statement. “We stayed the course, through persistence, preparation, and an unwavering commitment to Naqah and Laurel, until the case finally reached a jury. After carefully weighing the testimony and evidence, that jury returned the largest brachial plexus verdict in our nation’s history. Justice was finally served.”

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In a statement to The News & Observer, a spokesperson for WakeMed pointed out that the company’s three employees were found not negligent.

“WakeMed is committed to providing a safe environment for patients to receive care and for future generations of health care providers to learn,” said the spokesperson.

WakeMed did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Saturday, July 18.