How much will Clayton boy get for botched circumcision?

The jury also awarded $125,000 in punitive damages, a spokeswoman for Pope's firm said, though it wasn't immediately clear Monday who was responsible for paying, because the documents had not been filed with the clerk on Monday.

Benton, who represented the midwife and clinic doctor, said Monday he had no comment on the verdict. Asked if an appeal was planned, he said, “We are exploring all our options at this point.

Page Powell, who represented the clinic's owner, disagreed with the Judge Shalonda Jones-Parker's decision to allow the jury to find Sigouin personally liable after the court had already found that she wasn't.



Pope said he fully expects appeals and perhaps collection efforts after that. Though the work isn’t done, he’s pleased that the jury acknowledged the long years of medical and social difficulties the boy, who soon turns 5, has ahead of him.

In other news:

Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes went to the police to find answers.

“He’ll need therapy off and on for the rest of his life,” Pope said. “He will have embarrassment” and trouble with relationships.

The child isn’t alone in his plight, said David Llewellyn, an Atlanta attorney who has worked roughly 50 cases involving circumcision injuries. He isn’t involved in the Clayton case.

“The doctors don’t set out to do wrong,” he said. “They’re negligent. They run a red light.”

He hopes the Clayton case will send a message of the dangers that can arise when medical professionals aren’t careful enough. He said no one keeps track nationally of verdicts and settlements plaintiffs receive in such cases, but before Friday, the highest Llewellyn had heard of was nowhere near $31 million.

As far as he knows, “it is a national record.”