Failure to Timely Deliver Child - Profound Brain Damage
The plaintiff parents were told that the plaintiff mother was pregnant in 2002. Because of infertility issues for several years, this pregnancy was the result of in vitro fertilization with a donor egg. The plaintiff mother received her prenatal care from Dr. X and when she went into labor in December 2002 Dr. X was the physician on call for the day.
As the mother approached the pushing stage the baby's heart rate began to have recurrent decelerations which did not return to baseline, indicative of intermittent cord compression that persisted with virtually every contraction and worsened with time. Dr. X and Nurse Y were aware of the decelerations but never made any effort to expedite the delivery.
At one point the mother requested a cesarean section, not because she knew anything was wrong with the baby, but because she was exhausted. Her request was declined. Dr. X came to the labor room and rotated the baby's head, but then left to attend to a triage patient who was being discharged home.
After three and one-half hours of persistent, worsening heart rate decelerations, the baby's reserve was exhausted and his heart rate no longer returned to the normal range. Dr. X returned to the delivery room and moved the mother to the operating room, but instead of starting an immediate cesarean section, a couple of attempts at vacuum extraction were made, which failed. The baby was delivered by emergency cesarean section blue, limp and lifeless. He was resuscitated, but had suffered profound brain damage.
The baby requires a tracheotomy, is tube-fed and hydrated. A $8 million settlement was reached. Dr. X and his Ob/Gyn clinic contributed $4 million, Nurse Y and the Nurse Staffing Company contributed $1 million and the hospital contributed $3 million. The net proceeds were divided between the baby and the parents. A Special Needs Trust was set up and approved by the court in order to preserve the baby's access to public healthcare benefits. The parents divorced, with the mother moving out of state, leaving the father to assume full responsibility for the baby.
With permission from Medical Malpractice Verdicts, Settlements & Experts; Lewis Laska, Editor, 901 Church St., Nashville, TN 37203-3411, 1-800-298-6288.
As the mother approached the pushing stage the baby's heart rate began to have recurrent decelerations which did not return to baseline, indicative of intermittent cord compression that persisted with virtually every contraction and worsened with time. Dr. X and Nurse Y were aware of the decelerations but never made any effort to expedite the delivery.
At one point the mother requested a cesarean section, not because she knew anything was wrong with the baby, but because she was exhausted. Her request was declined. Dr. X came to the labor room and rotated the baby's head, but then left to attend to a triage patient who was being discharged home.
After three and one-half hours of persistent, worsening heart rate decelerations, the baby's reserve was exhausted and his heart rate no longer returned to the normal range. Dr. X returned to the delivery room and moved the mother to the operating room, but instead of starting an immediate cesarean section, a couple of attempts at vacuum extraction were made, which failed. The baby was delivered by emergency cesarean section blue, limp and lifeless. He was resuscitated, but had suffered profound brain damage.
The baby requires a tracheotomy, is tube-fed and hydrated. A $8 million settlement was reached. Dr. X and his Ob/Gyn clinic contributed $4 million, Nurse Y and the Nurse Staffing Company contributed $1 million and the hospital contributed $3 million. The net proceeds were divided between the baby and the parents. A Special Needs Trust was set up and approved by the court in order to preserve the baby's access to public healthcare benefits. The parents divorced, with the mother moving out of state, leaving the father to assume full responsibility for the baby.
With permission from Medical Malpractice Verdicts, Settlements & Experts; Lewis Laska, Editor, 901 Church St., Nashville, TN 37203-3411, 1-800-298-6288.
posted by Nurse To Go at 7:54 PM
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