Jury Awards $20M Over New Mother's 2013 Death

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A jury has awarded the family of a woman who died days after giving birth at Abbott Northwestern Hospital more than $20 million.

According to reports, lawyers are calling this the largest wrongful-death medical malpractice verdict ever in Minnesota.

Nicole Bermingham died in August 2013 at the age of 30. She had just given birth to a son and was discharged home before returning to the hospital with what would later be determined to have been sepsis.

According to lawyers, the emergency room nurse who observed Bermingham ignored lab test results showing sepsis, and sent Bermingham back home again. She died about 12 hours later.

Records show that Bermingham had an elevated white blood cell count, and an abnormally low platelet count. She was diagnosed at the ER with a urinary tract infection, but lab results showed no sign of bacteria, the suit on behalf of Bermingham's survivors said.

The nurse named in the case now works at Burnett Medical Center in Gransburg, Wisconsin.