Bellflower : Mother Gets $1-Million Award in Infant’s Death

A Bellflower woman has won a $1-million judgment from a local hospital for her baby’s death and a traumatic delivery, including a Cesarean section done with only local anesthesia.

A Norwalk Superior Court jury awarded the damages to Hakran Song, 31, for the wrongful death of her daughter at Bellflower Medical Center and the pain and suffering caused during the delivery.

Song underwent an emergency Cesarean in January, 1991. Doctors and nurses made numerous mistakes, which included failing to call an anesthesiologist immediately, according to Jina J. Kim, Song’s attorney. The child was born with an oxygen deficiency and died six months later.

Nancy G. Wanski, an attorney representing Bellflower Medical Center, said the hospital “did everything it could as quickly as it could.” Doctors and nurses followed the standards set by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and “did an excellent job,” Wanski said.

Attorneys for the hospital, formerly known as Bellflower Doctors Hospital, plan to request a new trial. If that fails, they will appeal, Wanski said.

Song, who has a 4-year-old son, also won $30,000 settlements before the trial from Dr. Joong Kim, who delivered the baby, and from an anesthesiologist whose time of arrival at the hospital was in dispute.