Boy, 13, in Brain Damage Case to Get $7 Million Over Lifetime

A 13-year-old Santa Ana boy who suffered brain damage at birth, allegedly because of improper medical care, will receive $7 million paid out over his lifetime from West Anaheim Community Hospital.

After a series of voluntary settlement conferences before retired Superior Court Judge Robert Banyard, the hospital’s attorneys agreed that Brandon Curlew would be paid a lump sum of $950,000 and $3,333.33 every month for the rest of his life, Michael A.K. Dan, the boy’s attorney, said.

The settlement was approved Thursday by the court, Dan said.

When the boy was born in June, 1972, there was a suspicion that he might be a victim of Rh sensitivity, Dan said, a condition in which antibodies in the mother’s blood attack the baby’s blood. If the condition is not addressed, it can cause anemia or brain damage in the child.

Dan contended in the lawsuit that obstetrician Miriam Wysocki “failed to have a Caesarean section done on Brandon’s mother or get the child out sooner. That set the scene for further problems.”

The child was born with a blood disorder, Dan said, adding: “Our contention is that the pediatrician (Dr. Jeffrey Englehart Jr.) didn’t follow the child closely enough,” and the boy sustained brain damage that could have been avoided.

As a result, he is deaf, cannot walk and will require constant care for the rest of his life for such basic tasks as bathing, eating and using the bathroom, Dan said.

The boy’s family filed suit against the hospital--which is now called Humana Hospital, West Anaheim--and the two doctors. A hospital spokesman could not be reached for comment.