A jury has awarded $3.6 million to...

A jury has awarded $3.6 million to an Orange County sheriff’s deputy and a former deputy who accused Riverside Community Hospital of negligence after their baby daughter suffered brain damage from a viral infection that the hospital staff failed to diagnose immediately after her birth. The couple, Joel and Ramona Buchlmayer of Laguna Niguel, now must care for their 2-year-old daughter, Lyndsay, around the clock, and the child will require assistance for the rest of her life.

“We’re pretty happy about” the jury award, Ramona Buchlmayer said Wednesday. “Our daughter needs a great deal of care and this will enable us to give her the care she needs and deserves.”

A hospital nurse failed to record on the baby’s chart that Ramona Buchlmayer, 29, had two viral infections during her pregnancy, according to the couple’s lawyer. Since the infant looked healthy and a pediatrician didn’t know about the mother’s medical history, the physician discharged the newborn 12 hours after her birth without any special instructions, said Bruce G. Fagel, the couple’s attorney.

Hospital officials contend that an immediate diagnosis would not have made a difference in the baby’s condition and will seek a new trial, said attorney Dennis Sinclitico, who represented the hospital in the case. If a retrial is not granted, he said hospital officials will appeal the verdict.

“The hospital feels very strongly that these are very nice people whose daughter ended up with a terrible disease and it’s a very sad situation,” Sinclitico said Wednesday. “But, we also feel very strongly that this verdict is not supported by the evidence. . . . .”

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Twelve days after the baby was born, the parents brought her back to the hospital with a low-grade fever and shaking in her right arm. Lyndsay was treated with antibiotics but her condition was not properly diagnosed as a viral infection until two days later.

Fagel contends the child’s condition would be normal if she had been given the antiviral drug Acyclovir shortly after being admitted to the hospital on April 2, 1994.

The couple filed a lawsuit alleging negligence by the hospital; nurse Lujuana Gresham; Dr. William Moore, the obstetrician; and Dr. Timothy Mackey, the pediatrician who discharged the baby. Jurors found the hospital and Gresham negligent and rejected claims against the doctors.

Fagel said the couple had been told by Moore, an obstetrician, that a delivery by Caesarean section would not have made a difference because the child was infected through the placenta prior to birth. But the couple’s attorney said he introduced evidence at the trial that showed the child was infected at the time of delivery and a Caesarean section could have prevented infection or injury.

The jury awarded $2.8 million for the purchase of an annuity to make future payments for the child’s medical expenses and additional damages to pay for future lost earnings for the child and for the family’s pain and suffering.

Joel Buchlmayer, 30, has worked for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department for more than nine years years. Ramona Buchlmayer, 29, retired from the department with a knee problem.