Our client, a Seattle-area infant, sustained injuries—including anoxic encephalopathy, compartment syndrome, and permanent neurologic impairment—caused by negligent failure to diagnose congenital asplenia, which led to pneumococcal sepsis. Congenital asplenia is a birth defect in which the infant is born with an absent or defective spleen. The spleen plays a critical role in clearing bacteria from the blood, so the defect is associated with a high risk of pneumococcal infections. It should be treated immediately with prophylactic antibiotics. In this case, doctors did not diagnose the defect until after the infant developed a massive blood infection. We argued the baby’s doctors were negligent in failing to recognize the signs and symptoms of asplenia.