Patient Blood Mismanagement: $1.465 Million Post-Verdict Settlement
Negligent management of blood loss during surgery causes death of 5-month old at Children's Hospital
2025 Medical Malpractice Settlement Report
By Andrew H. Miller, Attorney for the Plaintiff
Suffolk Superior Court, Boston, Massachusetts
Case summary
Adalyn Peyton was born in 2016 with developmental delays, the inability to breathe without a ventilator, and with the bones in her lower and upper jaws fused together.
When Adalyn was five months old, a surgical team at Boston Children’s Hospital developed a plan for a novel surgery to separate Adalyn’s jaw. They were unsure how much blood she would lose during the surgery, and the defendant pediatric anesthesiologist ordered blood from the blood bank before the surgery so that it was ready in case it was needed for a transfusion. He did not order that it be brought to the OR ahead of time.
During the surgery, the defendant did not check Adalyn’s blood levels until her vital signs became concerning more than halfway through the surgery. By that time, Adalyn had lost a dangerous amount of blood, and the defendant ordered a blood transfusion. Because the blood was not ready in the OR, it took 45 minutes to arrive so that it could be transfused. The amount of blood Adalyn lost and the delay in replacing it caused a cascade that led to a massive stroke that she could not recover from. She passed away the following day.
The plaintiff presented evidence at trial from a pediatric anesthesiologist expert who testified that it was inappropriate for the defendant to leave the OR during certain critical portions of the surgery, that the standard of care required blood to be in the OR during the surgery in case a transfusion was needed, and that the defendant should have checked Adalyn’s blood levels before she had lost a critical amount of blood. He testified that had those steps been taken, Adalyn’s blood loss could have been safely managed, and she would have survived.
After a 7-day trial, the jury deliberated for 8 hours and returned a verdict of $800,000 against the defendant. Prior to judgment entering, the parties settled the claims for $1,465,000 and an agreement that Boston Children’s Hospital will institute the annual Adalyn Peyton Lecture in Patient Blood Management.
Lubin & Meyer medical malpractice attorneys Andrew C. Meyer, Jr. and Andrew H. Miller represented the plaintiffs in this case.
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