By AP/KWMU
East St. Louis, MO – The federal government has been ordered to pay $24.5 million to a former Scott Air Force Base family for providing substandard care in the delivery of the couple's son.
District Judge Patrick Murphy last week called the delivery of Toby Tremain in 2003 an "unhappy story" that led to the child being profoundly impaired. Murphy says Air Force medical providers allowed military rank to interfere in the mother's care.
The judge determined that throughout the delivery, providers treated the midwife, who was a major, as if she were a physician. The judge says they deferred to her out of rank. The doctor was a captain.
Leading up to the delivery, there were indications that the baby's heart rate wasn't normal, but officials still deferred to the midwife.