A Pennsylvania jury has awarded $5.6 million to the family of a child who suffered severe brain damage during birth and whose privacy was later violated when a photo and personal details were posted online by a midwife involved in the delivery.

The civil lawsuit, filed in 2020 by parents Alexandra Wolfson and Jason Hoffman, stemmed from the traumatic birth of their daughter at Albert Einstein Medical Center.

The child, now 6 years old, lives with permanent injuries including near blindness, limited mobility, and the need for 24-hour care and a feeding tube.

The case was brought against Dr. Daryl E. Stoner, midwife Anne Pitts Londergan, CNM, Dr. Kate Stampler, Dr. Andrew Chau, and Albert Einstein Medical Center, among others. The jury ultimately found Londergan and the hospital liable for negligence, breach of confidentiality, and invasion of privacy.

The verdict followed a mistrial in the original proceedings last fall.

According to court documents, the midwife failed to recognize and address serious delivery complications known as “brow” and “occiput posterior” malpresentations, abnormal fetal positions that should be corrected manually or result in a C-section.

The lawsuit argued that the failure to act resulted in the newborn’s skull and brain being severely compressed during delivery, leading to lifelong damage.

Compounding the trauma, the midwife later posted a photo of the child’s misshapen head to her personal Instagram account with the caption, “Jellybean head, courtesy of malpresentation (brow and OP),” triggering a series of inappropriate public comments. The parents say they never gave consent for the image or medical details to be shared.

“This was a landmark ruling,” said the family’s attorney, Tom Bosworth. “It not only holds medical professionals accountable for physical harm but sets an important precedent in protecting patient privacy, especially in the age of social media.”

Wolfson said the jury’s decision validates the hardship their family has endured. “Although protecting our daughter’s privacy is incredibly important to us, we’ve made the difficult decision to speak out in hopes it raises awareness and prevents this from happening to other families.”