Medical Malpractice
Obstetrical Negligence $1,200,000
Injuries alleged:
Intrauterine asphyxia just prior to birth resulting in brain
damage (mental retardation, developmental delay, and a seizure
disorder)
Court: Hampden Superior Court
Amount of settlement: $1.2 million
Case Summary:
The minor plaintiff suffered asphyxia in utero just prior to his birth as a result of two entirely separate and distinct departures from standards of care by the defendant obstetricians:
The first negligent event occurred when the defendant obstetrician permitted the mother to carry the baby beyond 43 weeks gestation. They knew that the placenta, the organ of pregnancy responsible for oxygenating and nourishing the baby was an 'aging organ,' which may not continue to function adequately after 42 weeks.
Accordingly, standards of care in obstetrics required that a non-stress or stress test be obtained to ascertain fetal well-being every seven days beyond 42 weeks.
The mother was properly scheduled
to have such non-stress/stress testing done at 43 weeks, but
when she called the defendant's office the day before the scheduled
test and reported that she was 'lightheaded, dizzy and nauseated,'
she was told not to go in for the test and to remain at home.
As a result, no information whatsoever was obtained by the defendants
as to whether the baby was in jeopardy in the aging post-term
uterine environment until four days later (25 days past the mother's
due date).
The second episode of obstetrical negligence occurred four days
later. When the mother presented at the defendants' office, and
one of the obstetricians realized that she was 25 days late and
had not had the previously scheduled stress test, he sent her
to the hospital in order that one of his partners induce labor
and deliver her immediately. The obstetrician at the hospital
erroneously believed that the mother had had the stress test;
and failed to recognize the urgency of the situation. Even when
he was confronted with evidence of fetal distress (dark green
meconium was present in the amniotic fluid and electronic fetal
monitoring showed distress), the obstetrician failed to order
an emergency Caesarean section, but rather, went to deliver another
patient's baby. When yet a third doctor in the group arrived
and recognized that the fetal monitor was showing that the baby
was in distress, he performed the needed Caesarean section; but
by that time, the plaintiff had already sustained irreversible
anoxic brain damage.