Jury Awards $9.5 Million to Bakersfield Family in Malpractice Case, but State Cap Limits Payout to $250,000

A jury in Bakersfield has found a former OB-GYN negligent in the 2019 deaths of 23-year-old Demi Dominguez and her newborn son, Malakhi, ending a seven-year wait for her family. After two days of deliberations, jurors awarded $9.5 million in non-economic losses, including compensation for the loss of love from both mother and child. The verdict came on Wednesday.

The wrongful death lawsuit was brought by Dominguez's family and her fiance, Xavier De Leon, against Dr. Arthur Park. KVPR featured the story in 2022 as part of its series Moms and Babies at Risk. Dominguez died from preeclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy complication that begins with high blood pressure and can lead to stroke, seizure or death. Her son was delivered by emergency C-section after her death and died less than a day later.

Despite the size of the award, attorney Patrick Logan of Trial Lawyers for Justice said the family will receive only $250,000. The reason is the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975, a state law that caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. The suit was filed in 2022, before Assembly Bill 35 took effect in 2023 and raised the maximum amount. Dominguez's mother, Tracy Dominguez, helped lobby for the new law even though it would not benefit her.

Park was the on-call OB-GYN when Dominguez checked into Mercy Hospital Southwest in April 2019, complaining of swelling. She was discharged after 23 hours with a prescription for Labetalol to lower her blood pressure. The standard of care for patients at risk of preeclampsia, however, is IV magnesium and continued observation in the hospital. A few days later, De Leon woke to find her seizing, and she died soon after.

At trial, Park represented himself and called no experts or witnesses. He struggled with court procedure and at times said the judge had excluded most of his evidence. He testified that he never spoke with or examined Dominguez and that nurses never told him her blood pressure was abnormal. Expert witness Dr. Michele Milovina, a Los Angeles OB-GYN hired by the plaintiffs, said women with signs of preeclampsia should receive IV magnesium, because a prescription takes too long to work. She added that readings over 160 are a medical emergency. Medical reports showed five such readings during Dominguez's stay, which Park blamed on a faulty blood pressure cuff.

Park has faced scrutiny before. The Medical Board of California accused him of gross negligence and investigated his practice three times, including once after Dominguez's death, but did not revoke his license. He voluntarily surrendered it in 2021. Dr. Hans Yu, who also treated Dominguez, was originally a defendant but settled out of court a day before trial. Mercy Hospital Southwest was named in the suit but was not a defendant at trial, a decision made by the family's former lawyer.

Outside Kern County Superior Court, De Leon thanked supporters for their prayers. "Over the past seven years, it's felt like a cloud has been over my life," he said. Tracy Dominguez said she is happy with the verdict and hopes it raises awareness of preeclampsia and proper maternal care. She urged families with poor medical experiences to file complaints with the California Medical Board.

Michele Monserratt-Ramos, an advocate with the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog who helped the family file its complaint, said the ruling matters because the Central Valley has the state's highest maternal mortality rate. "Many of those families couldn't make it to this point," she said.