A medical malpractice suit reached a settlement after county officials agreed to pay $5.5 million to the family of a Redondo Beach girl who suffered traumatic, permanent brain damage after a cheerleading accident three years ago in California. The settlement marks one of the largest settlements for any medical malpractice suit in the country. The high cost of the settlement is due to the girl's ongoing medical care for the rest of her life.

The girl was injured after toppling to the ground after a pyramid-style cheerleading stunt on Aug. 30, 2007. The girl was taken to County Harbor-UCLA Media Center near Torrance following the accident. While under their care, she was diagnosed with a small subdural hematoma, or bleeding of the brain, and was released after five days of observation.

According to the family's attorney, over the course of her stay she developed signs that indicated her subdural hematoma had increased in size. Despite this fact, Harbor-UCLA chose not to perform a CT scan upon discharge. If they had, they would have seen that it had grown in size and would have operated, according to the family. She was released from the hospital on Sept. 4 and was unresponsive the next morning. The family took her back to the hospital, where they determined she had massive brain damage, retardation and paralysis. She was kept in the hospital for the next five weeks thereafter.

After the family filed suit against the hospital for medical malpractice, the case went directly to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors which approved the deal last week. Under the agreement finalized this week, the hospital will admit no liability or fault in the care of the girl, who now lives at home with her parents and requires continuous care.

The family will receive a lump sum of $2.45 million, along with monthly payments totaling $3.05 million for the next 40 years to pay for the girl's medical care.

Source: Contra Costa Times "$5.5M settlement reached in Redondo Beach cheerleader's injury" 08/16/2010