Utah Judge Awards Nearly $1 Billion to Family Over Botched Baby Delivery at ‘Most Dangerous’ Hospital

A Utah judge awarded a family nearly $1 billion -- the largest in the state’s history -- after finding that a hospital’s catastrophic mishandling of a baby’s delivery left the child with permanent disabilities.

 

Anyssa Zancanella, Danniel McMicheal and their 5-year-old daughter Azaylee were awarded $951 million by Judge Patrick Corum earlier this month after he ruled Steward Health Care liable for the botched delivery at Jordan Valley Medical Center in West Valley City on October 14, 2019.

 

According to the family’s 2021 lawsuit, the nurses assigned to Zancanella had barely finished their training and administered excessive amounts of Pitocin, a labour-inducing drug, while the on-call doctor slept in a nearby room. Despite clear signs of distress, including the baby’s rising blood pressure and the mother’s fever, intervention was delayed until more than a day later, when doctors performed an overdue C-section.

 

Judge Corum condemned the hospital in stark terms, writing that Zancanella “would have been better off delivering this baby at the bathroom of a gas station, or in a hut somewhere in Africa, than in this hospital. Literally, this was the most dangerous place on the planet for her to have given birth.”

 

When Azaylee was delivered, she had a misshapen head, facial swelling, and bruising on her scalp. She was immediately airlifted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, where doctors determined she had suffered oxygen deprivation. Today, she suffers from frequent seizures, requires 24/7 care, and is unable to perform basic developmental tasks. Doctors say she will likely never be able to drive, attend college, or hold a job.

 

Corum reflected on the magnitude of the loss, saying: “The person (Azaylee) was to be, the person she deserved to be, is trapped inside a brain-damaged child. I cannot think of anything more profound, total or complete than that loss.”

 

The damages award, described by the Salt Lake Tribune as the largest in Utah’s history, may prove difficult to collect. Steward Health Care, once the hospital’s owner, is mired in bankruptcy and owes billions to creditors. Lawyers for the family hope to at least secure the punitive damages -- roughly half of the award.

 

Zancanella had gone into labour unexpectedly on October 12, 2019, while she and McMicheal were visiting Salt Lake City from their home in Wyoming. Forced to deliver at the local hospital, she was placed under the care of undertrained nurses who continued administering Pitocin despite the risks. Even when they informed the on-call doctor of Zancanella’s fever and Azaylee’s alarming vitals, he returned to sleep just steps away from the labor room, the lawsuit alleged.

 

The consequences have been devastating for the family. Azaylee now attends kindergarten only for a few hours a day, undergoes ongoing physical and occupational therapy, and depends on her parents for constant supervision. The family carries oxygen equipment everywhere in case of seizures and sleeps together in a single bed to respond quickly to nighttime episodes. They are now planning to get a service dog trained to detect seizures.

 

“She had her life stolen. We all did. We had her taken from us,” Zancanella said during the trial. “She is trapped. I know that my daughter is in there, but she can’t come out and I think of that every day.”

 

Steward Health Care denied liability in a May 2024 court filing but its lawyers later withdrew from the case, citing nonpayment and lack of communication with the company. The hospital has since been renamed Holy Cross Hospital–West Valley after its 2022 acquisition by CommonSpirit Health. Neither Steward, the nurses, nor the doctors involved have commented on the case.

 

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