$101 million jury verdict reached for baby born with brain damage in Oak Park

The family of a baby who was brain damaged at birth at an Oak Park Hospital received a $101 million medical malpractice verdict from a jury.

A Cook County jury awarded 5-year-old Gerald Sallis and his mother, Tequila Snow, the settlement Tuesday after deliberating six hours, according to a statement from the family’s lawyers at Clifford Law Offices.

“We have waited a long time for this and, even though Gerald Junior cannot talk in the same way as all of us and will never be able to talk in the same way as all of us, I wanted his voice to be heard,” Snow said in a statement.

Attorneys said that medical personnel at West Suburban Medical Center ignored Sallis’ external fetal monitoring strips for six hours before and during his delivery on Aug. 9, 2014. Experts testified that he would have been born a normal baby if nurses and other medical staff alerted doctors to the abnormalities and performed a C-section.

“Communication breakdowns are the number one reason that patients in America are injured by medical negligence,” Clifford Law Office attorney Sarah F. King said. “We need greater awareness of the importance of communication at hospitals between health care providers such as nurses and doctors.”

Attorneys said Sallis cannot speak or take care of himself in any way, and experts testified that he is expected to live a normal life span.

“Gerald is different today than he would have been had these health care providers done their job, but this verdict ensures that he will at least have the proper medical care for the rest of his life and that he will be with his mother,” King said.

Snow said that she took care of her son at home for four years before taking him to Misericordia Home, a facility that helps provide care for people with mild to severe developmental disabilities, because she couldn’t afford his care.

“He will now be able to come back to live with me at home,” Snow said. “He’s all I got and I’ve got to go to him now and tell him that everything will be all right.”