Jessie Trice Community Health Center Patient is Awarded $33.8 Million in Damages for Pregnancy-Related Medical Malpractice
In 2013, a Miami Gardens family was awarded $33.8 million in damages in a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor and a nurse whose actions led to their newborn baby boy suffering irreversible brain damage.
The incident occurred in the Jessie Trice Community Health Center when Marla Dixon, who was 19 years old at the time, was denied a Cesarean section by Dr. Ata Atogho and an assisting nurse despite her unborn child having a slowed heart rate. According to reports, Dr. Atogho did not acknowledge this slowed heart rate and left Dixon in order to conduct another delivery. Worse, he was seen speaking on his cellphone throughout the ordeal.