Family of Burned Infant Is Awarded $8.25 Million

A jury in Pontiac awarded $8.25 million to a family whose child was badly burned as a premature baby when his hospital bedding caught fire.

Lawyers for Craig and Shelley Laporte argued that the child -- a quadruplet -- suffered serious burns and long-term lung damage about three months after his birth in 1997, when a doctor at William Beaumont Hospital used a cauterizing tool and sparked a flash fire.

Nathan, now 7, cannot talk or dress himself, cannot breathe on his own and has learning disabilities. The hospital apologized for the fire but argued that the lung damage was a birth complication.