A Tulsa County jury has awarded $15 million to a 7-year-old girl who suffered catastrophic and permanent brain damage as an infant after a pediatric emergency room physician failed to act on clear laboratory signs of bacterial infection and discharged her without obtaining a blood culture or giving antibiotics.
In December 2018, 5-month-old August Montgomery was taken to a Tulsa-area emergency room for what was described as a respiratory illness with fever, vomiting, lethargy, and decreased urine output. This was her third visit to a hospital over the course of the preceding five days. Although lab results indicated “textbook signals of bacterial infection,” the treating physician diagnosed August with a “possible viral” illness without ordering additional bloodwork or prescribing antibiotics.
Less than 48 hours later, she was rushed back to the same emergency room suffering from partial paralysis and seizures. A lumbar puncture revealed she had bacterial meningitis. She spent 44 days in the hospital, marked by brain surgery and multiple strokes.
At trial, plaintiffs’ experts testified that a blood culture would have detected the presence of the streptococcus bacteria in less than 24 hours and a single dose of ceftriaxone administered during the third visit would have sterilized August’s bloodstream within approximately two hours and prevented the bacterial meningitis that followed. The plaintiff’s standard-of-care expert testified that “once you order a CBC, and it shows abnormally elevated white blood cells you cannot ignore that result.”
The jury deliberated for approximately four hours before awarding $15 million in future medical care costs and lost earnings.
“This verdict is about August and what was needlessly taken from her,” said Jeffrey Rasansky of Dallas-based Rasansky | McKenzie, trial counsel for the Montgomery family. “Every sign of bacterial infection was right there in front of the treating physician. The labs were in the chart. The patient’s history was in front of her. And the path that would have prevented all of this, a blood culture and a single dose of antibiotics, was on the table, but was not chosen.
“The jury saw what happened, and they did something no one had done for August in the seven years since. They acted.”
Now at age 7, August relies on cochlear implants to hear, has cerebral palsy with severe cognitive delays and functions at the developmental level of a 15- to 18-month-old.
“August was born a happy, healthy child,” said trial co-counsel Sharon Morgan, a Partner at Wais, Vogelstein Forman Koch & Norman LLC. “August’s injuries were entirely preventable if only this physician had met the standard of care. Because of this doctor’s inaction, August will require ongoing medical treatment, adaptive equipment and attendant care for the rest of her life. We are thankful to the jury for helping ensure that will be possible.”
The six-day trial in Montgomery v. Katie Jackson, M.D., et. al. was heard before Judge Kevin Gray in Tulsa County District Court. The Montgomery family was represented by Mr. Rasansky and by Ms. Morgan and Natalie D’Antonio with Wais, Vogelstein Forman Koch & Norman LLC.
About Rasansky | McKenzie
Rasansky | McKenzie, is a Dallas-based plaintiffs firm representing families in catastrophic medical malpractice, birth injury, nursing home negligence and wrongful death matters. Jeff Rasansky has more than 35 years of trial experience and has tried cases involving complex malpractice issues including pediatric birth injury, cerebral palsy, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and bacterial meningitis across multiple jurisdictions. The firm maintains MyCerebralPalsyChild.org as a national educational resource for families navigating cerebral palsy and birth injury cases.
About Wais, Vogelstein, Forman, Koch & Norman LLC
Wais, Vogelstein, Forman, Koch & Norman LLC is a Baltimore-based plaintiffs firm with a national practice focused on catastrophic medical malpractice, birth injury and pediatric brain injury cases. The firm’s attorneys have successfully tried complex pediatric injury cases involving cerebral palsy, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, bacterial meningitis and missed diagnoses across the country.
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