Missouri Supreme Court will not hear appeal, cementing $10M birth injury verdict

The state’s highest court turned down the appeal from a hospital that is on the hook for a $10 million verdict in a birth injury case.

At the heart of the case is a plaintiff who suffered a surgical injury while giving birth at Mercy Hospital. The plaintiff, Taylor Cayce, was 18 at the time of the injury.

“She went to Mercy Hospital for a routine cesarean delivery,” according to a statement from Simon Law who represented Cayce. “Within days, she returned with severe pain and infection. A urologist eventually discovered that her left ureter had been stitched shut during surgery — an injury that could have been avoided, detected and corrected before closure.”

Cayce will have permanent medical complications from the injury. A St. Louis County jury awarded $10,018,689.85 for her past and future losses, according to Simon Law.

The hospital appealed and the case was reviewed by the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, which affirmed the lower court’s decision.

“The road to justice often takes longer than anyone hopes, and I’m incredibly proud of my courageous client for never giving up,” said lead attorney Mary Simon. “Birth injury cases demand absolute precision, relentless accountability and grit. As both a mother and a trial lawyer, I know how to fight for families with intensity and focus. No one handles a birth injury case quite like a mother.”

Cayce’s child is now 8 years old and in the years since the child’s birth, Cayce has undergone hospitalizations, recurrent infections and permanent damage requiring self-catheterization several times a day, Simon Law stated.

The case is: Taylor Cayce v. Mercy Hospitals East Communities, Mercy Clinic East Communities, Case no. 18SL-CC03681.