On November 17, 2023, a Phoenix jury unanimously found Banner Health negligent for causing a permanent brain injury to 9-year-old Greyson Griepentrog when he was born. The $31,550,825 verdict is the largest medical malpractice verdict in Arizona history. Even after the unanimous and historic birth injury verdict, Banner Health continued to refuse to take responsibility for its conduct.
Rather than pay Greyson the money the jury awarded to him to help care for all of his needs, Banner instead spent significant time and money urging the trial judge to take matters into his own hands to overturn the jury’s decision. On April 23, 2024, the trial judge rejected Banner’s request and upheld the jury verdict. In short, the trial judge held, “THE COURT FINDS that the verdict is supported by the evidence presented at trial.”
During the 4 week trial, attorney Brian Snyder from Snyder & Wenner proved that two of Banner’s nurses repeatedly violated the hospital’s safety policy regarding Pitocin. When the fetal heart tracing showed signs of potential oxygenation problems for Greyson, Banner UMC Phoenix’s safety policy required the nurses to turn off the Pitocin. Instead, the nurses continued to turn the Pitocin up. This caused even further oxygenation issues. Then, instead of delivering Greyson via c-section, Banner continued to mom labor. During these harrowing hours, Greyson was repeatedly assaulted with more and more periods of time where he was not oxygenation. Ultimately, he was born in terrible shape, clinging to life. His Apgar scores were 1 and 1, at one minute and five minutes, respectively. He was not breathing and his heart rate was abnormally slow. Banner’s own specialists diagnosed Greyson with HIE, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. This devastating brain injury led to Greyson’s diagnosis of cerebral palsy. He is unable to walk on his own, he has significant speech difficulties, and his ability to use his hands is compromised. Through it all, Greyson has continued to fight every day to get better. He is an amazingly happy kid with a fantastic attitude. He is always smiling and loves sports. What Banner Health did to this innocent child is an absolute tragedy. Rather than focusing on its employees and policies to ensure this never happens again, Banner simply continues to deflect responsibility. The trial court’s ruling brings Greyson and his family one step closer to justice.
Snyder & Wenner is Arizona’s Birth Injury Law Firm, and has been protecting members of our community for over 40 years. If you had a traumatic labor and delivery, and your child was born with a brain injury, call us today to see if we can help hold the hospital accountable. Birth injuries typically result in tens of millions of dollars of medical bills, all for injuries that are most often entirely preventable.
