Minn. Jury Awards $15 Million in Problematic Birth

A Las Vegas woman whose son was born in 2001 with cerebral palsy and other health problems has been awarded more than $15 million by a Ramsey County jury.

J. Richard Bland, the attorney for the Minnesota Medical Insurance Co., said he would ask Judge David Higgs to set aside the Oct. 26 verdict.

Jurors decided that Dr. Samuel Donegan of the Aspen Medical Group and staff at United Hospital in St. Paul failed to react to signs that Meshell Davis and her baby, Dhevyn, were in distress during the birth.

Jurors found Donegan 90 percent liable and United Hospital 10 percent responsible.

The hospital settled with Davis and was not a defendant in the trial, but jurors were asked to determine the percentage of responsibility. Terms of the settlement aren’t known.