$130.5 Million Verdict for Infant Brain Damage After Beaumont Hospital Delayed Code Blue

In March 2006, a two-month-old boy was brought to William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, for an outpatient renal scan. Physicians had identified mild kidney swelling, and the study was ordered to examine kidney function. Performing the scan required placing an intravenous line.

Nuclear medicine technicians made multiple attempts to place the IV. After the line was in, the infant suffered a breath-hold spell and began turning blue. His mother, who was present, alerted the staff. The technicians did not immediately call a code blue. They did not provide chest compressions. They performed rescue breaths only. The full emergency response the situation required was not initiated.

That delay had irreversible consequences. The infant sustained a severe, prolonged hypoxic-ischemic insult from the period without adequate oxygenation. Brain tissue was destroyed. He was left with cerebral palsy and has required continuous care from his mother ever since.

The Tran family retained Brian J. McKeen of McKeen and Associates, P.C. A lawsuit was filed in Oakland County Circuit Court. At trial, which took place more than a decade after the 2006 incident, McKeen's team concentrated on the documented gap between what the nuclear radiology technologists did when the child's condition changed and what emergency protocol required of them. Expert witnesses testified that a prompt code-blue call and immediate chest compressions are minimum, non-negotiable responses when any patient loses adequate oxygenation. The failure to meet that standard, plaintiff's counsel argued, was the direct cause of the brain damage. Beaumont defended the case fully, maintaining its staff had provided appropriate care and declining to settle.

On September 25, 2018, an Oakland County jury returned a verdict of $130,571,897 for the Tran family, one of the largest medical malpractice verdicts in Michigan history to that point. After the ruling, McKeen stated: "Nothing will ease the suffering of this child, but at least this will alleviate some of the financial burden from his caretakers." Beaumont announced plans to appeal and stated the dollar amount "will be substantially reduced due to applicable law." The hospital said the award would be substantially reduced under Michigan law, which caps noneconomic damages in malpractice cases, and that it would appeal.