A Wake County jury in Raleigh, North Carolina, returned an $18.2 million medical malpractice verdict on July 14, 2026, in favor of 6-year-old Naqah Lake and his mother, Laurel Browne, arising from permanent nerve injuries sustained during Naqah’s birth at WakeMed Raleigh Campus Hospital. The case centered on obstetric management of a shoulder dystocia and whether a maneuver documented during delivery caused a global brachial plexus injury. After a five-week trial conducted before a 12-person jury, the panel unanimously found negligence by both the hospital and a resident physician and awarded damages that included both economic and non-economic components.
Delivery Complication and Documented Maneuver
According to court filings, Laurel Browne went into labor on Sept. 17, 2019, when a resident physician noted shoulder dystocia, a complication in which a baby’s head delivers but the shoulder becomes lodged behind the mother’s pubic bone. The brachial plexus—described in the record as a network of spinal cord nerves that control the shoulder, arm, and hand—can be injured during difficult deliveries, and the litigation focused on which shoulder was affected and why. The plaintiffs emphasized that, in typical shoulder dystocia cases, the anterior shoulder (the shoulder trapped behind the pubic symphysis) is at greatest risk of injury, while Naqah’s injury involved the posterior shoulder.
The claim further alleged that the resident physician performed a fetal vertex rotation during the shoulder dystocia. As described in the case record, fetal vertex rotation involves rotating the baby’s head while the shoulder remains impacted, and the plaintiffs contended it “should never be performed” to relieve shoulder dystocia. The theory of causation was that applying rotational force under those conditions transmitted traction to the brachial plexus, resulting in global “pan plexus” injury. Naqah was ultimately diagnosed with permanent nerve damage to his left brachial plexus, alleged to have left his left arm, shoulder, and hand functionally unusable for life.
Liability Dispute and Standards of Obstetric Care
The defense challenged causation and timing, arguing the injury occurred before birth, in utero, rather than during delivery. The contemporaneous documentation that the resident physician performed the fetal vertex rotation became a central point in the parties’ dispute, with plaintiffs maintaining the record supported an intrapartum mechanism of injury tied to the maneuver. The defense position also highlighted that injury to the posterior shoulder was inconsistent with the more common pattern of shoulder dystocia-related trauma, a circumstance the plaintiffs acknowledged made causation more difficult to establish.
The plaintiffs alleged that the medical care did not comply with the minimal standard of care for obstetricians in North Carolina, contending the team failed to use all available or appropriate maneuvers to manage the dystocia. They asserted that the delivery response, including the use of fetal vertex rotation, fell outside accepted obstetric practice and directly produced Naqah’s permanent neurologic deficits. Damages were framed in terms of both present and future impact, including physical pain, disfigurement, disability, and enduring limitations affecting daily activities and development.
Trial Structure, Verdict, and Damages Award
The matter was tried in the General Court of Justice, Superior Court Division, Wake County, North Carolina, in a five-week proceeding before Judge Winston C. Gilchrist. The trial was described as a two-phase presentation, and the 12-person jury returned unanimous verdicts on negligence as to both the hospital and the resident physician, along with a unanimous damages award. The case is captioned Naqah Maxwell Lake, a minor, by and through his Guardian ad Litem, Christopher Duggan, and Laurel Browne, individually v. WakeMed (File No. 22CVS011664-910).
The jury awarded $18.2 million total, consisting of $2.2 million in economic damages and $16 million in non-economic damages. The plaintiffs were represented by Grant & Eisenhofer, according to the case description. The award was described as among the largest medical malpractice verdicts in North Carolina and as the largest verdict reported in a brachial plexus birth-injury case, reflecting the jury’s acceptance of a delivery-related mechanism of injury and the long-term consequences established at trial.
Practical Implications for Shoulder Dystocia Litigation
The verdict underscores how contemporaneous delivery documentation can shape the causation analysis in birth-injury cases, particularly when the injury pattern is atypical for shoulder dystocia. When parties dispute whether an injury occurred in utero versus during delivery, the factfinder’s assessment often turns on the internal consistency of the medical record, the plausibility of competing mechanisms, and the degree to which the alleged maneuvers align with accepted obstetric standards.
The damages award also reflects how juries may weigh lifelong functional impairment in non-economic terms where permanent neurologic injury affects ordinary childhood and adult activities. While post-trial motions and appellate review can affect final judgment in complex malpractice matters, the unanimous findings here illustrate the litigation significance of tying a discrete, documented delivery action to a specific anatomic injury and long-term disability.
