Oct. 20--An Okaloosa County jury has awarded $4.25 million to the family of a woman who died shortly after giving birth at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center.

Wendy Leigh Jackson died June 30, 2003, 16 hours after giving birth to a son she named Chaffin. She died when an aneurism in a renal artery ruptured, according to David Swanick of the Powell and Swanick law firm. Swanick served as lead attorney for the Jackson family.

Swanick filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2006 that claimed three doctors -- Wyndal K. Blankenship, Barry Riggs and Saad Rahman -- were aware shortly after Chaffin's birth that Jackson was bleeding in the area of her kidney.

"The case revolved around an ultrasound that showed blood near a kidney that nobody followed up on," Swanick said.

The physicians waited 16 hours before reacting to stem the bleeding, the suit alleged.

"Sixteen hours later, they got in there, and it was too late," Swanick said.

Two of three doctors named in the suit, Blankenship and Rahman, were found liable. Riggs was exonerated by the jury, according to court papers. Rahman was adjudged to have borne 65 percent of the fault in the death and Blankenship 35 percent, the jury found. The settlement provides $1.7 million for pain and suffering to the child, now 6 years old, and $1.8 million for Richard Tab Jackson, the husband of Wendy Jackson. The verdict was returned Thursday, Swanick said. "I'm just so happy for the family. When the verdict came back, Mr. Jackson just started to cry. It's been a long time coming for him."

The jury also awarded $565,000 to Richard Jackson for loss of his wife's "support and services." It awarded $185,000 to Chaffin Jackson for the same losses.

Court documents filed early in the case indicate the defendants had at some point contended that Wendy Leigh Jackson bore a share of the responsibility, through her own negligence, for her death.

Wendy Leigh Kirby Jackson "was negligent, and such negligence caused or contributed to her death," a defense motion filed by Fort Walton Beach Medical Center attorneys contended.

The hospital was not named as a defendant in the case that went to court, Swanick said.

Attempts to reach Craig Ashley Dennis, Rahman's attorney, and Jesse Suber, Blankenship's attorney, were unsuccessful. Suber did try to return a telephone call.

Vicki Story, spokeswoman for Fort Walton Beach Medical Center, said Blankenship remains on the hospital medical staff.

"He has privileges here," she said.

Riggs and Rahman no longer are on the staff, she said.

The total award of $4.25 million had Okaloosa County's legal community buzzing, said Jennifer Copus, president of the county's bar association.

"That's all anybody was talking about" at a weekend event, Copus said. "It's huge considering our area."

The judgment actually pales beside the largest Okaloosa County medical malpractice award anyone could think of -- $13 million obtained by the Levin Law Firm, -- Copus said.

"But it's still impressive," she added.

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