Las Vegas, NV, 12/6/2016 – Last Friday, following eight hours of deliberations, a Clark County District Court jury awarded 14.5 million dollars to the family of MayRose Hurst. The suit contended that MayRose, now 8-years-old, suffered a debilitating brain injury as an infant due to the failure of her physicians to diagnose and treat a genetic blood disorder called Diamond Black Fan Anemia. This is the largest medical malpractice verdict in Clark County since 2007.
In 2008, MayRose Hurst was delivered prematurely at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas. The 29-week-old baby girl was treated in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for 11 weeks. At the time her discharge tests indicated that her body was not making red blood cells, and that her blood count was dropping. Any physician would have been concerned by these results as red blood cell production is vital for carrying oxygen to the brain. These alarming results were never shared with MayRose’s parents, who took their baby girl home believing her to be healthy and happy and requiring no unusual follow up.
Three months after her discharge from Sunrise Hospital, MayRose went into anemic shock. She did not have enough red blood cells in her body to carry oxygen to her brain. This oxygen deprivation caused a massive and permanent brain injury.
The jury determined that Ali Piroozi, M.D. of Sunrise Hospital was partly responsible for the negligence that contributed to MayRose’s injury. David Cutt, one of the family’s attorneys, said “Unfortunately, despite Dr. Piroozi’s concerns about MayRose’s anemia, he failed to alert the family to this problem, or to prescribe appropriate follow up upon discharge.”
As a result of the brain injury, MayRose is unable to walk or speak, and is mostly blind. “It has been a privilege to champion the cause of this innocent little girl. I take a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that these funds will provide the care she will need for the rest of her life, and will improve the quality of her life,” said Jacquelynn Carmichael, another Hurst family attorney.