An Augusta hospital and doctor have agreed to pay nearly $3.6 million to settle medical malpractice claims filed by a former Army soldier after her son suffered fetal brain damage.

The settlement includes more than $1.4 million in attorney fees and comes after a federal judge refused to approve the arrangement last month unless its terms were made public. It also includes more than $150,000 in legal expenses and notes that a similar amount is expected to come from a separate, pending settlement with the U.S. government, a co-defendant.

That settlement has not yet been filed with Chief Judge R. Randal Hall of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

The plaintiffs attorneys include Chuck Pardue of Pardue & Coskrey in Evans, Georgia; Moore Law Firm principal Leighton Moore; and Nelson Tyrone III and Daniel Conner Jr. of The Tyrone Law Firm. Tyrone said they were not at liberty to discuss the case.

The settling defendants—Augusta's Trinity Hospital, Dr. Venkatesan Gorantla and Augusta Physician Services—are represented by James Painter and F. MIchael Taylor of Augusta's Brennan, Wasden & Painter. They did not respond to requests for comment.

The United States is represented by Jason Blanchard and Shannon Statkus with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia. They did not offer any comment.

According to court filings, the mother, Sherecia Willis, was stationed at Fort Gordon in 2016 when she gave birth to a son identified as "C.W."

C.W. was found to have suffered fetal injuries leading to decreased oxygen and blood flow prior to delivery at Trinity, causing extensive and permanent brain damage. The hospital was under contract with the government to provide medical care to service personnel.

Willis and C.W. sued the United States and other defendants in the Southern District in 2017, and a settlement was reached in September after A mediation before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Epps.

The following month the plaintiffs and health care defendants submitted a proposed settlement to Hall. The court must approve any settlement because C.W. is a minor, and the judge balked when asked to keep the details of the settlement sealed as part of the parties' confidentiality agreement.

The motion to approve the settlement argued the parties had an "inherent expectation of privacy with regard to the terms and conditions of settlements reached between private parties to civil lawsuits."

The motion said C.W.'s privacy interests should outweigh any public right of access to court information, but Hall disagreed in a Dec. 26 ruling.

"Of note," said Hall in that order," the public docket in this case is replete with sensitive information regarding C.W., including numerous expert reports, which no party has sought to seal. The court fails to see how, in this case, the settlement amount alone reveals such sensitive information about C.W. that it overcomes the public's right of access."

Hall wrote that the parties must provide unredacted settlement documents for his approval. In the alternative, he said they could withdraw from the settlement agreement.

The parties responded with an unredacted motion last Friday to approve the settlement, which totals just under $3.6 million to be paid by Trinity Hospital.

Of that, the plaintiffs' lawyers—working under a 40% contingency fee—are to receive $1.42 million. They are also due $153,046 in litigation expenses; a note said that sum represents "half of the total expenses in this case. The remaining expenses will be reimbursed from the settlement/recovery from the United States."

There is also $30,000 set aside for any additional expenses that may occur.

The total net for for Willis and her son just over $1.9 million, of which $1.7 million is to be placed in a special needs trust.