Bertram & Murphy Team Secure $14M Birth Injury Jury Trial Verdict

Congratulations to Kieran Murphy, Catherine "Katie" Bertram, and Jacqueline Harclerode of Bertram & Murphy on their $14,000,000 birth injury jury trial verdict in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Maryland.

This case involved a young pregnant mother who had a prior preterm delivery. She presented to her maternal-fetal medicine doctor around 20 weeks of pregnancy and was found to have a shortened cervix of approximately 5 mm. She was admitted to the hospital for bedrest, but was not offered a cervical cerclage, which is a stitch placed around the cervix for women at risk of preterm delivery. Women are candidates for this cerclage if (1) they had a prior preterm delivery, (2) they have a shortened cervix, less than 15 mm on ultrasound, and (3) they are at or before 23 weeks of gestation – this young mother met all three criteria, but was not offered an ultrasound-indicated cerclage.

Approximately three weeks later, she began experiencing cramping and discomfort and pain consistent with contractions and preterm labor. Her group B streptococcal (“GBS”) status was unknown at the time. The CDC Guidelines in place at the time required that women in preterm labor with unknown GBS status be given antibiotics to prevent transmission of GBS disease form the mother to the baby during vaginal delivery. The hospital had policies that required the nurses to obtain and initiate orders for GBS antibiotics when presenting signs and symptoms of preterm labor were documented. Despite that, the nurses failed to obtain and initiate orders for GBS antibiotics. The baby was born prematurely shortly thereafter, at 25 weeks of gestation with no antibiotics. He developed and suffered from grade II intraventricular hemorrhage and grade IV intraventricular hemorrhage and GBS sepsis as a result. He went on to develop mild cerebral palsy, intellectual deficits, with a full-scale IQ of 56, and required placement of a shunt for hydrocephalus due to the intraventricular hemorrhaging in his brain.

The patient alleged that she and her prematurely born son were the victims of medical malpractice and lack of informed consent due to the failure to offer a cerclage to his mother when she presented with cervical insufficiency, which was then compounded by the failure to administer antibiotics for prevention of group B streptococcal transmission from the mother to the patient during delivery. She also alleged that her son developed brain injuries shortly after delivery due to his premature birth and his group B streptococcal sepsis.

On July 9, 2026, after a three-week trial, the jury returned a verdict of $14,000,000.00 to the patient for his future medical expenses, future lost earnings, and pain and emotional distress. Kieran asked for $13,776,048.00 in closing and the jury awarded almost $250,000.00 more than he asked for.

Advocate Capital, Inc. is grateful for Bertram & Murphy (Washington, DC). We appreciate their important work and their tireless effort to fight for justice on behalf of their clients.

About Micah Howard

Micah Howard joined the Advocate Capital team in 2025 as a member of the Executive Client Management Team. Prior to joining Advocate Capital, Micah worked for our parent bank, Pinnacle Financial Partners, as a Financial Advisor Assistant.