{"id":4710,"date":"2026-07-15T21:37:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T21:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4710"},"modified":"2026-07-15T21:37:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T21:37:01","slug":"nc-jury-awards-18-2-million-after-finding-wakemed-doctor-negligent-in-boys-birth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4710","title":{"rendered":"NC jury awards $18.2 million after finding WakeMed doctor negligent in boy\u2019s birth"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

A Wake County jury awarded $18.2 million to a 6-year-old and his mother after finding that a doctor\u2019s negligence during the boy\u2019s birth resulted in disfigurement and a lifelong disability.<\/p>\n

Read more Why NC\u2019s Tillis says Democrats should \u2018look in the mirror\u2019 as they criticize Trump<\/a><\/p>\n

A judge, however, will have the final say on the amount WakeMed will have to pay. It will likely be reduced significantly, under a state law<\/a> that caps the amount of some medical malpractice payouts.<\/p>\n

Naqah Lake, 6, and his mother, Laurel Browne, filed a lawsuit in 2022 against WakeMed<\/a> and its medical staff, alleging that they failed to properly treat Browne during her pregnancy and delivery at the Raleigh hospital<\/p>\n

Over the course of the litigation, the defendants were narrowed to Dr. Tara Brenner, an obstetrician-gynecologist working for WakeMed. Because Brenner, then a third-year UNC resident, was acting as a WakeMed employee while treating the patient, the law holds WakeMed responsible for the negligence that the jury found in her medical care this week.<\/p>\n

WakeMed spokesperson Kristen Kelly pointed out in an email to The News & Observer that the jury found three other WakeMed medical professionals were not negligent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWakeMed is committed to providing a safe environment for patients to receive care and for future generations of health care providers to learn,\u201d Kelly wrote in the email.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit states that during Browne\u2019s labor on Sept. 17, 2019, her son\u2019s shoulder became stuck behind her pelvic bone.<\/p>\n

Brenner rotated the baby\u2019s head, which had been delivered, while the shoulder was still stuck, the family\u2019s complaint states. About two minutes passed between the delivery of the baby\u2019s head and the rest of his body.<\/p>\n

Naqah wasn\u2019t breathing and required resuscitation through chest compressions and intubation, the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

He remained in the neonatal intensive care unit for nine days, and his left arm remained limp.<\/p>\n

Doctors diagnosed Naqah with a severe nerve injury to his left shoulder and arm. When he was about 6 months old, surgeons operated to try to repair the damaged nerves and remove scar tissue.<\/p>\n

Still, Naqah continued to struggle with the permanent nerve damage, known as Erb\u2019s palsy<\/a>, that has left him with lifelong weakness, limited use of his left arm, and permanent disfigurement, the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

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For the 6-year-old, that means needing help getting dressed, using the bathroom and opening containers in his lunch. At school, another child is assigned to help him through the day, said his attorney, Lisa Weinstein.<\/p>\n

Those are some of the burdens that can be measured.<\/p>\n

Those that can\u2019t be measured include stares, questions and the heartbreak of growing up with a deformed arm that won\u2019t work like other children\u2019s, Weinstein said.<\/p>\n

In the lawsuit, the family\u2019s attorneys argued the baby\u2019s injuries during birth were preventable and caused by Brenner\u2019s actions, which didn\u2019t comply with the accepted standard of care for doctors practicing in the state.<\/p>\n

In court documents, Brenner\u2019s attorneys denied that she was negligent and that her actions resulted in the injury. They also argued that she met the appropriate standard of care during a complicated delivery and criticized the family\u2019s medical experts who said otherwise.<\/p>\n

After about three weeks of testimony, a jury found on July 2 that Brenner was the only negligent provider in the case, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

After Brenner was found negligent, her attorneys argued that if she did make a mistake, her actions didn\u2019t meet the legal threshold for gross negligence.<\/p>\n

The jury agreed.<\/p>\n

On July 13, they awarded Naqah $17.7 million and his mother $500,000.<\/p>\n

Of that award, $2.2 million was considered economic damages,<\/a> or costs that can be counted, such as doctor bills and medical treatments.<\/p>\n

The jury also awarded $16 million in noneconomic damages<\/a>, or harms that don\u2019t come with a receipt, including pain and the challenges of living with a permanent disability and a disfigured arm.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, the $16 million award for noneconomic damages will likely be significantly reduced<\/a> under a 2011 state law<\/a> that caps such damages<\/a> at $712,847,<\/a> unless the jury finds gross negligence.<\/p>\n

Still, Weinstein said the family considers the verdict a win after four years of litigation in which the doctor and hospital denied responsibility.<\/p>\n

Read more Whatley\u2019s COVID-era comments on prisons raise more questions in race vs. Cooper<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do believe justice was served, and we\u2019re so proud of the verdict,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Wake County jury awarded a 6-year-old boy and his mother $18.2 million after finding a doctor negligent during childbirth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nNC jury awards $18.2 million after finding WakeMed doctor negligent in boy\u2019s birth - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4710\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NC jury awards $18.2 million after finding WakeMed doctor negligent in boy\u2019s birth - 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