Oregon Jury Won’t Award Boy Who Contracted Herpes at Birth

An Oregon jury has declined to award any money to a 4-year-old boy who suffered profound brain damage after he contracted herpes from his mother at birth.

Attorneys for Jonah Johnson had sought $46.5 million, saying obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Carrie Miles should have recognized that the boy’s mother was infected with the disease when she arrived at the emergency room.

Miles’ attorneys called on experts who said herpes testing for those symptoms isn’t standard or called for in medical literature. Experts for Miles thought the mother likely contracted herpes weeks after Miles examined her.

Angela Johnson Musa, the mother, did not tell Miles that she had been a sex worker in the past before she was treated.