$951M Birth Injury Verdict: Nurses in Training, Sleeping Doctor Blamed

In an unprecedented legal decision that has sent ripples through the medical community, a Utah judge awarded $951 million to a family whose daughter suffered lifelong disabilities due to negligent care during delivery. This judgment against Steward Health Care represents the largest medical malpractice award in Utah's history and stands among the highest birth injury verdicts nationwide.

Judge Patrick Corum found Steward Health Care liable for the "botched delivery" of Azaylee McMicheal, born October 14, 2019, at their West Valley City facility. The award was granted to parents Anyssa Zancanella and Danniel McMicheal, along with their now 5-year-old daughter, who will face lifelong disabilities resulting from the negligent care she received at birth.

The magnitude of this verdict becomes clear when compared to typical birth injury settlements across the nation. Most medical malpractice awards for birth injuries, even severe cases involving conditions like cerebral palsy, generally range from $1 million to $15 million. This makes the Utah verdict approximately 63 times larger than typical maximum settlements in similar cases.

About The Case

While specific details of the negligent care haven't been fully disclosed in available reports, the severity of the award suggests profound and preventable errors occurred during Azaylee's birth.

According to local news, court documents reveal harrowing allegations of negligent care at Jordan Valley Medical Center, then owned by Steward Health Care, during the 2019 birth of Azaylee McMicheal. According to the family’s 2021 lawsuit, the nurses assigned to mother Anyssa Zancanella had just completed their training and administered dangerously high doses of the labor-inducing drug Pitocin while the on-call physician slept in a nearby room.

Azaylee was not delivered until more than a day later, following what the lawsuit described as a long-overdue C-section. When she was finally born, the infant reportedly suffered a misshapen head, severe swelling, and complications consistent with oxygen deprivation. She was later airlifted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City for intensive treatment.

In an August ruling, Judge Patrick Corum issued scathing remarks about the care Zancanella received. He compared the hospital unfavorably to delivering in a gas station bathroom, calling it “the most dangerous place on the planet” for her to have given birth. Reflecting on the consequences for Azaylee, he added: “The person she was to be, the person she deserved to be, is trapped inside a brain-damaged child. I cannot think of anything more profound, total or complete than that loss.”

The unprecedented $951 million award is the largest medical malpractice verdict in Utah’s history, according to reporting by the Salt Lake Tribune. However, the family now faces uncertainty in collecting the damages. Steward Health Care, the hospital’s parent company, has filed for bankruptcy and owes billions to creditors. Attorneys for the family hope to recover at least the punitive damages, which represent about half of the total award.

Zancanella and her husband, Danniel McMicheal, had been on a short trip from Wyoming to Salt Lake City when she went into labor on October 12, 2019. What began as a routine delivery turned into a life-altering ordeal, one that culminated this month in a record-setting verdict that could reshape how Utah’s hospitals approach labor and delivery care.

The financial implications of this case extend beyond the immediate parties involved. Medical malpractice cases of this scale often lead to institutional reviews of protocols, additional staff training, and sometimes systemic changes in how healthcare facilities approach high-risk situations.

The $951 million award will likely cover Azaylee's lifetime care needs, including ongoing medical treatment, therapeutic interventions, assistive technologies, and accommodations to help her achieve her maximum potential despite her disabilities. Birth injuries often require multidisciplinary care throughout the patient's lifetime, creating substantial financial burdens for families.

While Steward Health Care has not publicly commented on whether they plan to appeal the decision, the case has already become a landmark in medical malpractice law. 

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