Led by Stephen Burrow, Heidelberg Steinberger won a jury trial in Biloxi for a neurosurgeon being sued by a brain-damaged child who claimed almost $12 million in damages.  After eight days of trial and a over a dozen witnesses, the jury deliberated for almost nine hours before returning its verdict for the neurosurgeon.
 
As in most medical negligence cases, the key issues addressed standard of care and whether our client's actions contributed to the child's neurological problems.  The neurosurgeon saw the child after he arrived at the emergency room of a local hospital after a fall at home with intra-cranial bleeding.  Allegations of child abuse by a caretaker quickly arose due to the nature of the child's injuries.  After four days, the neurosurgeon had stabilized the child's condition and transferred him to a critical-care facility in New Orleans.   The plaintiff, the child's mother, alleged the child should have been transferred to a pediatric intensive care facility immediately upon arrival at the local hospital, and the neurosurgeon improperly managed the child's decreasing cerebral perfusion pressure.  This failure, according to the Plaintiffs, led to secondary and irreversible brain injury, which could have been avoided had the child been transferred to another facility.  On the other hand, the defense showed that a transfer of the child upon arrival to the emergency room was not warranted under the circumstances of his presentation.  Also, the defense presented compelling testimony that the child's injuries were caused solely by the trauma which brought him to the hospital in the first place.
 
Because the claim arose prior to Mississippi enacting tort reform, there was no statutory cap on damages the jury could have awarded.  Finally the damages claimed far exceeded the limits of the neurosurgeon's available insurance.