Jury Awards $5.25 Million for Newborn Daughter's Death After ER Discharge During High-Risk Twin Pregnancy
After trial: The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the verdict amount and rejected the defendants' trial-error arguments on July 1, 2025, but vacated the trial court's ruling that Georgia's OCGA 51-13-1 damages cap does not apply to these wrongful death claims. That question is back before the trial court on remand and unresolved, so whether the full $5.25 million daughter's award will ultimately stand is not yet final. The Georgia Supreme Court's June 16, 2026 decision in Clark v. Leigh blocked the same cap in another malpractice case, but that ruling turned on statutory construction because the verdict there also included pain and suffering damages, and the court expressly did not decide whether the cap can constitutionally be applied to wrongful death damages. No source confirms how the trial court has ruled on remand here, or whether the award has been paid.
Won by Shamp Silk.
A Cobb County, Georgia jury awarded $10.5 million in February 2023 after an on-call obstetrician discharged Dinesha Robinson from the emergency room despite lab results showing signs of infection during a high-risk twin pregnancy. The untreated infection spread and led to the death of the family's daughter shortly after birth and the stillbirth of her twin brother. The verdict split evenly into two $5.25 million wrongful death awards, one per child. The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the amount as supported by the evidence in July 2025 but vacated the trial court's ruling on the state's damages cap and sent that question back for further proceedings.
What happened
On the afternoon of April 3, 2019, Dinesha Robinson went to the emergency room at Tift Regional Hospital in Tifton, Georgia. She was carrying twins at nearly five months of pregnancy, treated as high risk because of an earlier miscarriage and a history of preeclampsia. The same obstetrics practice had already treated her twice in the prior three weeks for a urinary tract infection. She arrived reporting lower abdominal pain near her bladder and an elevated heart rate, both signs consistent with infection.
The on-call obstetrician, Dr. Nicholas Chiera of United Obstetrics and Gynecology, P.C., which operated as The Howard Center for Women's Health, ordered lab work. The results showed an elevated white blood cell count and bacteria in her urine. Trial evidence established that Dr. Chiera reviewed those results and discharged Robinson home around 9 p.m. without examining her, treating the infection, or discussing the findings with her.
The next day Robinson developed chills, back pain, and a fever. By then the infection had spread into the uterus, a condition called chorioamnionitis. The family's daughter was delivered alive but died shortly afterward from the same untreated infection. Her twin brother was stillborn. Expert testimony at trial established that if Dr. Chiera had treated the infection on April 3 instead of sending Robinson home, it likely would not have spread and both children would have survived.
Robinson and the children's father sued Dr. Chiera, United Obstetrics and Gynecology, and The Howard Center for Women's Health for wrongful death. A Cobb County jury heard the case in February 2023. Laura Shamp and Joshua Silk of Shamp Silk represented the family. The jury returned a $10.5 million verdict, split into two equal wrongful death awards of $5.25 million each, one for the daughter and one for her twin brother.
The defendants moved for a new trial, lost, and appealed to the Georgia Court of Appeals, arguing the verdict was excessive and that the trial court had mishandled jury instructions and voir dire. On July 1, 2025, the Court of Appeals affirmed on all three points, holding the evidence supported the full amount and finding no error in how the trial was conducted.
The appeal also reached Georgia's statutory cap on damages under OCGA 51-13-1. The trial court had ruled the cap could not be constitutionally applied to these wrongful death claims, relying on the Georgia Supreme Court's 2010 ruling that struck the same cap for personal injury pain and suffering claims. The Court of Appeals found that reliance misplaced, since the 2010 ruling never addressed wrongful death claims, and sent the cap question back to the trial court to decide again. That question remains open, so the daughter's $5.25 million award has not yet been finally resolved. In June 2026 the Georgia Supreme Court held in a separate case, Clark v. Leigh, that the cap could not be applied to a verdict that also included pain and suffering damages, but it stopped short of deciding whether the cap can constitutionally reach wrongful death damages, and no source confirms how that decision has affected this case on remand.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.FindLaw, Georgia Court of Appeals opinion, United Obstetrics and Gynecology, P.C. v. Robinson, A25A0543, decided July 1, 2025: April 2019 ER discharge despite infection signs, chorioamnionitis, live birth and death of the daughter and stillbirth of her twin brother, verdict breakdown, affirmance of the amount, vacatur of the damages-cap ruling, and counsel of record naming Laura M. Shamp and Joshua Forrest Silk
- 2.Daily Report (law.com), February 22, 2023: independent report of the $10.5 million verdict in Cobb County State Court naming Laura Shamp and Joshua Silk of Shamp Silk as plaintiffs' counsel and identifying the defendants
- 3.Law360, July 1, 2025 ('No New Trial, But $10.5M Ga. MedMal Verdict Could Be Cut'): independent confirmation the Georgia Court of Appeals denied a new trial and left the damages-cap question open
- 4.FindLaw, Supreme Court of Georgia opinion, Clark v. Leigh, S26A0349, decided June 16, 2026: the court held OCGA 51-13-1's cap could not be applied to a verdict that also included pain and suffering damages and vacated the reduction, while expressly not deciding whether the cap can constitutionally reach wrongful death damages
- 5.TopVerdict.com, Top 50 Medical Malpractice Verdicts in the United States in 2023 (corroboration only): lists the case as a 2023 verdict and names Laura Shamp and Joshua Silk of Shamp Silk, LLC as plaintiffs' counsel
More proven verdicts from Shamp Silk
All Shamp Silk proven verdicts →A Fulton County State Court jury awarded $75 million to Jonathan Buckelew, who suffered a brain stem stroke after a chiropractic neck adjustment at age 32 and was left with locked-in syndrome when an emergency physician and a radiologist failed to diagnose it for a full day. The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment in March 2025.
A Bibb County jury awarded $33,465,176 in July 2024 after finding that physicians affiliated with an OB-GYN practice in Macon, Georgia failed to diagnose and treat a bowel perforation that occurred during April Clark's May 2019 ovarian cyst surgery, a failure the family said led to her death that June. The trial court later cut the wrongful death portion of the verdict from $29,250,000 to $350,000 under Georgia's medical malpractice damages cap. On June 16, 2026, the Georgia Supreme Court vacated that reduction, holding the cap cannot apply to a verdict that includes pain and suffering damages protected by the state's constitutional right to a jury trial, which restored the verdict to its full $33,465,176. The Court also sent the case back to the trial court to decide one argument from the defendants' motion for a new trial that the trial court had never reached, so the case is not over.
A Duval County, Florida jury awarded longtime smoker Elaine Jordan $11 million in August 2015, finding that Philip Morris USA concealed the dangers and addictive nature of cigarettes and that the resulting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease led to her two lung transplants and a later kidney transplant. The verdict included $7,795,000 in compensatory damages and $3,205,000 in punitive damages. Jurors also found Philip Morris 60 percent at fault and Jordan 40 percent at fault. Philip Morris appealed and lost at every stage: Florida's First District Court of Appeal affirmed in April 2018, the United States Supreme Court denied review in February 2019, and a later appeal of the attorney fee award Jordan won failed as well. The $11 million stands as rendered in 2015.
A Cobb County, Georgia jury awarded $10.5 million in February 2023 after an on-call obstetrician discharged Dinesha Robinson from the emergency room despite lab results showing signs of infection during a high-risk twin pregnancy. The untreated infection spread and led to the stillbirth of the family's son and the death of his twin sister shortly after birth. The verdict split evenly into two $5.25 million wrongful death awards, one per child. The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the amount as supported by the evidence in July 2025 but vacated the trial court's ruling on the state's damages cap and sent that question back for further proceedings.
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