FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (WTVF) — The Department of Justice has agreed to pay $11 million to the family of a Fort Campbell soldier whose daughter suffered a permanent brain injury during her birth at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital.
The girl was born in September 2021. Her family's attorneys say hospital staff failed to respond to hours of fetal distress during labor, leaving her with severe and permanent disabilities.
She is now 4 years old and has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, vision problems and other complications from the brain injury. She cannot walk or sit without support, receives food through a feeding tube and needs around-the-clock nursing care.
The family filed a lawsuit in 2024, and the case went to trial in April. Attorneys said the DOJ agreed to the $11 million settlement while the family was waiting for the judge's decision.
“This case is about holding the government accountable and giving this military family the lifelong care and support they will need,” attorney Laurie Higginbotham said.
September 11, 2001 is a day most associate with terror and tragedy. Austin Pollack shares a story from that day about hope and persistence: the effort to save a little girl’s life – with an organ donation. The problem? The young patient was in Houston, and her life-saving liver here in Nashville. With the grounding of all civilian aircraft, how could it be done? “Nobody ever said this isn’t possible.”
- Rhori Johnston
