A jury in Clayton County, Georgia awarded a family $31 million after a botched circumcision of an 18-day old boy has left him with chronic stabbing pain and other life-long injuries.
According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, in October 2013 Stacie Willis brought her son to Riverdale’s Life Cycle Pediatrics for the routine procedure and with an accidental slip, nurse midwife Melissa Jones severed the tip of the boy’s penis. The boy, whose name is being withheld from the public, was sent home bleeding. None of the medical staff on hand reportedly recommended emergency surgery to reattach the severed part, which would’ve minimized future complications.
Willis said she had to insert an instrument into her son’s penis to prevent it from closing. Her son has since had surgeries in Massachusetts and Minnesota, which lawyers agree have helped the now 5-year-old boy and made it easier for him to urinate. Both surgeries also open up the possibility of him have children in the future. However, tests must be done when he reaches puberty.
Originally, Defense Attorney Terrell W. Benton who represents the nurse midwife and doctor found at fault argued $1 million was enough to cover the mental and physical damages the boy will face for the duration of his life. Willis’ attorney, Neal Pope initially found $100 million as a reasonable amount and argued the boy would live well into his sixties.
Pope focused his argument on what the boy will endure as he gets older and tries to find a partner. “It will take a special person to accept the boy’s deformity,” Pope said.
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