Family Awarded Nearly $1 Billion After Shocking Details Emerge About Baby’s Delivery At Hospital

5-year-old Azaylee faces permanent disabilities following the traumatic delivery. A Utah family has been granted nearly $1 billion in damages after disturbing details surfaced about how a hospital mishandled their baby’s delivery. Five-year-old Azaylee is now expected to live with lifelong disabilities as a result of what the court ruled to be serious medical negligence. The decision followed months of evidence that painted a devastating picture of the child’s birth.

Third District Judge Patrick Corum, presiding over the case in Salt Lake County, said in his remarks that mother Anyssa Zancanella ‘would have been better off delivering this baby at the bathroom of a gas station, or in a hut somewhere’ rather than in a hospital, which is supposed to be the safest place for childbirth.

Back in October 2019, Zancanella and the baby’s father, Danniel McMichael, were vacationing in Salt Lake City when Azaylee’s arrival suddenly began. The couple rushed to the local hospital, but the mother was placed in the care of nurses who, shockingly, had only completed their training earlier that very same day.

According to the lawsuit, these ‘inexperienced’ nurses failed to respond quickly to signs that the baby was in severe distress. On top of that, they administered ‘excessive’ amounts of Pitocin, a drug used to induce labor, which further worsened the situation. Legal documents revealed that although the nurses did reach out to a more experienced doctor about the mother’s fever and the baby’s concerning blood pressure levels, the on-call physician reportedly chose to go back to sleep in a room nearby instead of stepping in to help.

Medical experts who reviewed the case testified that Azaylee was deprived of oxygen for too long during labor and, as a result, suffered catastrophic brain damage following an emergency cesarean section delivery. This injury left her permanently disabled, with no possibility of ever recovering full cognitive function.

When Azaylee was finally delivered, she was born with a ‘misshapen head’, a ‘swollen’ face, and significant bruising, all of which highlighted the trauma she had endured during birth. Today, she requires constant round-the-clock care as she experiences frequent seizures and has major developmental delays. Lawyers representing the family explained that her cognitive and executive functions are severely impaired compared to other children her age.

Doctors believe she will never be able to live independently. That means no school or higher education, no career, and she will never be able to drive or care for herself without full-time assistance. “She is trapped. I know that my daughter is in there, but she can’t come out and I think of that every day,” Zancanella expressed, describing the heartbreaking reality of raising her daughter. Earlier this month, Judge Corum officially ruled that Steward Health Care was liable and awarded the family $951 million in damages after hearing their story of unimaginable loss and hardship.

“The person [Azaylee] was to be, the person she deserved to be, is trapped inside a brain-damaged child,” Corum added in court. “I cannot think of anything more profound, total or complete than that loss.” Despite the landmark verdict, collecting the money may prove to be another battle for the family. The hospital chain has since gone bankrupt, and the family’s attorneys have said they hope to at least secure half of the massive sum awarded.