The Justice Department agreed to pay $11 million to an Army family whose daughter lives with a permanent brain injury incurred from negligence during her birth at Fort Campbell, Ky.
Sgt. Joshua Madrid and his wife, Sarah Panter, filed the federal lawsuit in 2024 in the Middle District of Tennessee after the Army failed to resolve an administrative medical malpractice claim submitted the year prior, according to court records. The case went to trial in April, and the Justice Department settled while awaiting the judge’s decision.
“This military mother was admitted to Blanchfield Army Community Hospital with a healthy baby, but because government providers failed to respond to hours of fetal distress, her baby suffered a catastrophic and permanent brain injury. This case is about holding the government accountable and giving this military family the lifelong care and support they will need,” said Laurie Higginbotham, one of the family’s attorneys from National Trial Law.
The couple’s daughter, referred to in court records as P.M., is now 4 years old and cannot walk or sit without support. She has a feeding tube and will require 24-hour nursing care for life, according to court records.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the settlement because it has not been finalized in court. The case is on hold until the Treasury Department funds the settlement.
Panter arrived at the Fort Campbell hospital on Sept. 10, 2021, after her water broke around 2 p.m., according to court records. She was nearly 40 weeks pregnant. Later in the night, hospital staff administered Pitocin, a synthetic medication that progresses labor.
The following morning, the baby’s heart monitors indicated that hospital staff should start checking Panter and the baby every 30 minutes. Instead, 2½ hours passed between evaluations, and Pitocin continued after it should have been stopped, according to court records. Had providers applied the standard of care, Panter should have been offered a C-section delivery by 7:30 a.m., and “more likely than not, P.M. would have been delivered without incident or injury.”
Panter delivered the baby at 10:36 a.m. with a certified midwife but no obstetrician present. The baby did not initially breathe after birth, according to court records. About six hours later, she was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for a higher level of care.
The hospital then forced the couple to take a “how to take care of your baby class” to approve Panter’s discharge.
“They were the only ones in the room without their baby — all of the other parents had their newborns. And of course, Ms. Panter’s baby needed completely different and significantly higher level of care than the generic class offered,” according to court records. “Instead, Sarah Panter and Joshua Madrid were forced to sit through this class, while the rest of the parents — all with healthy newborns — watched them cry. The government negligently inflicted this emotional distress and humiliation on this family for absolutely no reason.”
Blanchfield Army Community Hospital did not respond Thursday to a request for comment on the settlement. The doctor and certified midwives listed in court records have active licenses with no disciplinary actions, according to online records.