A New York City mother was awarded $50 million after a jury found that her obstetrician caused irreparable damage during childbirth six years ago. Rob Schmitt reports.
A New York City mother was awarded $50 million after a jury found that her obstetrician caused irreparable damage during childbirth six years ago.
Llaulin Cruz was awarded the massive sum after a Bronx jury found that Dr. Michael Ihemaguba was to blame for a series of injuries during the delivery of one of her children in 2009.
The Daily News first reported the award.
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Cruz, 38, and her family said that Ihemaguba told her to continue to push after her newborn's head had been delivered and performed a controlled cut that he never later stitched it up.
The problem was made worse when she went to deliver another child a year later. Since then, she's had more than a dozen surgeries.
"I was basically going from my house to the hospital," Cruz said of the years since the traumatic childbirth.
Ihemaguba, who doesn't practice in the United States anymore, did not return calls from NBC 4 New York but told the News that the jury didn't come to its verdict based upon the facts.
""Someone can just make up a story, cry to the jury, and they will ignore all the records and give her a big award," he said.
Cruz's attorney, Edward Sanocki, says there will be appeals on the award decision, and it could be two more years before Cruz sees a dime of that money.
