$25.4 Million Verdict for Birth Injury Caused by Excessive Pitocin, Reduced to $20.8 Million Under Missouri's Malpractice Cap
After trial: Missouri's statutory cap cut the $5 million noneconomic award to $450,098, and a $550,000 settlement credit was applied, leaving a final judgment of $20,824,653.
Won by Cullan & Cullan LLC.
A Jackson County jury awarded a Kansas City-area family $25.4 million after finding an OB-GYN's improper supervision and excessive Pitocin use during delivery caused their daughter's cerebral palsy, though the verdict was reduced to a final judgment of $20,824,653 under Missouri's statutory cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases.
What happened
In 2018, Rachel Harris went into labor at a Kansas City-area hospital under the care of Dr. Kelly Sandri. According to the family's lawsuit, Sandri violated her duty of care and improperly supervised a student doctor who was assisting with the delivery.
The plaintiffs argued that hospital staff administered Pitocin, a drug used to induce and strengthen contractions, in excessive amounts over roughly six hours. That level of stimulation, they contended, deprived the baby of oxygen during labor and caused hypoxic-ischemic brain damage. The child was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy and now requires round-the-clock care for life.
Sandri's defense disputed both causation and the extent of the harm, arguing the injury occurred in utero before labor even began rather than as a result of anything that happened during delivery. Truman Medical Center and University Health Physicians, also named as defendants, settled out of the case in 2020 before trial, for an amount later credited against the final judgment.
The case went to trial before Judge Marco Roldan in Jackson County Circuit Court, case number 1816-CV28721. Joseph P. Cullan, Patrick J. Cullan, and Ryan G. Terril of Cullan & Cullan represented the family. Christopher Brackman and Janette Gaddie of Franke, Schultz & Mullen represented the defense.
On March 30, 2022, the jury returned a verdict of $25.4 million. The award broke down into $5 million in past and future noneconomic damages, $18,972,694 in future medical damages, and $1,401,861 in future economic damages.
Missouri law caps noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases. The noneconomic portion of the verdict was reduced from $5 million to $450,098 under that statutory limit. After also crediting the $550,000 the family had already received from the settling hospital defendants, the court entered a final judgment of $20,824,653.
The gap between the jury's $25.4 million verdict and the $20,824,653 final judgment reflects Missouri's damages cap, not any finding by the jury that the case was worth less. The economic components of the award, covering the medical and other financial costs of a lifetime of care, were not touched. The noneconomic damages meant to compensate for pain, suffering, and loss of a normal life were the portion cut, by more than 90 percent.
Cullan & Cullan is a Kansas City-based firm whose attorneys include several who hold both medical and law degrees. The firm has built its practice around birth injury and obstetric malpractice litigation, and the Harris verdict adds to a track record of multiple eight-figure birth injury verdicts the firm reports across Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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