Articles Posted in Birth Injury

The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a birth injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this birth injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

Plaintiff, 31, was 32-34 weeks pregnant when she presented to Medical Center Oct. 1, 2005, complaining of heavy bleeding, cramping, irritable uterus and uterine contractions with history of five prior miscarriages. Plaintiff was transferred to HOSPITAL, a facility with level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), in the care of her perinatologist.

Plaintiff was admitted by OB intern acting under the supervision of Perinatologist. OB intern reportedly diagnosed Plaintiff with a clinical placental abruption. Plaintiff was monitored and was given steroids and other medicine to mature the fetus’ lungs, as well as to stop the mother’s uterine contractions. The monitoring was continued until either the fetal or maternal parameters became non-reassuring. Perinatologist allegedly did not see Plaintiff on Oct. 1 but she billed the patient.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a birth injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this birth injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

FACTS/CONTENTIONS

According to Plaintiff: On July 23, 2004, plaintiff Andy Wallas was admitted to ABC Medical Center for delivery. Her obstetrician was defendant Donald Gray, M.D. Her pre-natal course was uneventful. During labor, the fetal heart monitor recorded that the fetal heart rate (“FHR”) dropped to the 40s for four minutes (bradycardia). Defendant elected to utilize a vacuum extractor to hasten delivery of the baby for what he perceived was an emergency.

Plaintiffs Andy Wallas, Benjamin Wallas, and minor, through his Guardian ad Litem, Andy Wallas, alleged that the FHR returned to baseline (normal) within the next contraction, so there was no emergency, but they were not critical of defendant’s decision to use the vacuum. Upon delivery of the fetal head, a shoulder dystocia was encountered (baby’s shoulder trapped under mother’s pubic bone).

Defendant claimed the baby was delivered with a McRoberts maneuver and Suprapubic pressure. The baby’s left upper extremity (arm, shoulder, hand) was noted to be flaccid at delivery. The baby was later diagnosed as having suffered a permanent left brachial plexus paralysis.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a birth injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this birth injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

FACTS/CONTENTIONS

According to court records: Plaintiff Darrol Purt’s mother, Deena Simon, presented to the labor and delivery department of a Sacramento hospital with a history of spontaneous rupture of membranes May 11, 2003. At the time of presentation, she was 35 weeks and two days’ gestation, with an estimated date of confinement of June 11, 2003. Tocolysis was administered to slow the progression of labor, and prenatal steroids were given. The patient was transferred to the labor and delivery department of defendant XYZ Medical Center so that the baby would have access to neonatal intensive care unit and neonatology specialists, if needed.

Plaintiff was delivered by Cesarean section.

After delivery, plaintiff was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital, where he was followed by defendants.

On May 19, 2003, plaintiff began having apneic/bradycardic episodes consistent with sepsis. A blood culture was taken, but many hours passed before antibiotic therapy was initiated, and there was no effort to undertake a lumbar puncture.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a birth injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this birth injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

The delivery of the minor plaintiff occurred at 6:03 p.m. with low Apgar scores and a venous blood gas, obtained at 30 minutes of age, showed a pH of 6.6 with a base deficit of -23. At surgery, the OB documented a placental abruption and frank blood was suctioned from the minor plaintiff’s airway after delivery. He was transferred to Children’s Hospital for brain cooling and diagnosed with multi-system organ failure. An MRI showed global hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Plaintiff alleged that defendant nurse negligently delayed in requesting help or contacting the OB when she was unable to find a fetal heart rate. Defendant hospital was negligent for failure to monitor the plaintiff on the remote monitor at the nursing station, and was also vicariously liable for the nurse.

The defense contended that all care was within the standard and the OB responded quickly to the drop in fetal heart rate and delivered the baby in less than 30 minutes.

CLAIMED INJURIES

According to Plaintiff: Severe cerebral palsy and developmental delay.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a birth injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this birth injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

FACTS/CONTENTIONS

According to Plaintiff: On August 21, 2007, plaintiff’s mother, age 27, entered defendant hospital for delivery of her first child. She had full prenatal care with no problems or complications and was at 36 weeks gestation. On the morning of admission she experienced some vaginal bleeding and pain and went to the Labor & Delivery unit where she was checked by an obstetrician, who did not find any bleeding but elected to admit her for further observation. Over the next several hours there was no further evidence of bleeding and no evidence of any problems on the fetal monitor tracing.

At 5:00 p.m., the on-call OB examined the mother and confirmed that she was 4 cm dilated and that the FMS was reactive. An IUPC was placed and was functioning. The OB left the room around 5:12 p.m. to go to the nurses’ station on the L&D unit, leaving the OB nurse (an employee of defendant nursing agency) with the patient. The OB nurse then left the room and walked by the nurses’ station, stating that she was going to the restroom. No one at the nurses’ station was able to recall that statement. The nurse later recorded that she returned to the room at 5:20 p.m. and observed scattered fetal heart tracing. She stopped Pitocin and attempted to obtain a better tracing. The nurse later noted that at 5:26 p.m., the charge nurse came into the room and asked if she needed help.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a birth injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this birth injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

The plaintiff’s expert neonatologist claimed that holding off the delivery for 48 hours would have permitted the babies’ lungs, gastrointestinal tract and brain to have matured sufficiently at 24 weeks gestation to avoid the subsequent damages the twins suffered, including brain damage to Ashley.

The defense’s expert perinatologist opined that Perk’s management of the two telephone calls he received from Teimen’s nurse met the standard of care, and that there was no indication for Teimen to be kept an additional 12 hours of observation with the administration of continuous tocolytics, antibiotics and betamethazone.

Teimen admitted at trial that although she was still feeling contractions when she was initially discharged from the hospital, she did not tell the nurse. She also claimed that she did not read the written discharge instructions she signed, which required her to stay at the hospital if her contractions were persistent.

Ashley, age 6 at trial, has developmental/cognitive delays, for which she receives speech therapy and oral aversion therapy. Chris, 6, has matured into a nearly normal child.

The plaintiffs’ claimed $5.72 million in medical costs to date, most of which was paid by private medical insurance.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a birth injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this birth injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

At home, Teimen continued to have contractions but believed they were Braxton Hicks contractions. At 9:30 a.m., she went to the office of her perinatologist, Dr. Mann, for a scheduled visit. Mann determined that Teimen was in active labor, and tried to give tocolytics to stop the labor, but was unsuccessful. Mann then sent Teimen to XYZ Center, where Perk conducted the delivery.

At 1:40 p.m., Ashley was delivered vaginally, weighing 680 grams, and at 1:58 p.m., Chris was delivered by Cesarean section, weighing 650 grams. Both babies were immediately taken to the neonatal intensive care unit due to their prematurity and conditions of respiratory distress, gastric perforation, and exclusive to Ashley, heart defects and brain injury.

Ashley and Chris, minors through their guardian ad litem, Meed Teimen, and Cathy Teimen, sued Perk and XYZ Center for medical malpractice.

Prior to trial, the parents’ causes of action were dropped from the case. Meed Teimen was dismissed via a defense motion for summary judgment, while Cathy Teimen voluntarily discontinued herself from the case. XYZ also reached a confidential settlement with the plaintiffs before trial.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a birth injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this birth injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

INJURIES: The twins were both transferred to ABC Childrens Hospital, where Ashley was a patient for six months and Chris for four months. They were thereafter seen by multiple specialists at Stanford Medical and in the Modesto area. Ashley had surgery at Stanford for perforation of her intestines, and also had a gastrostomy feeding tube placed.

The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a birth injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this birth injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

CASE INFORMATION
FACTS/CONTENTIONS

According to Defendant: Plaintiffs Marvin Zeref, a minor by and through his guardian ad litem, Menwa Zeref, Menwa Zeref, and Elief Zeref IV alleged that delayed performance of a C-section resulted in permanent neurologic injuries due to prolonged fetal distress. Mrs. Zeref was admitted to the hospital in the late evening. She was seen by Nurse #1, who admitted her to Labor and Delivery, reviewed the fetal heart rate strip, and reported telephonically to the obstetrician on call for the patient’s medical group. Nurse #2 took over the care at 3:00 a.m. She spoke to the obstetrician at about 3:30 a.m. The obstetrician ordered preparation for a C-section. The incision was not done until 4:39 a.m. The baby was born severely depressed, resuscitated, and transferred to the NICU.

Plaintiffs alleged that there was progressively worsening fetal distress caused by a worsening placental abruption. The delay in the C-section was due to nursing and “hospital” negligence in not summoning a back-up anesthesiologist, as the anesthesiologist assigned to Labor and Delivery was doing another C-section. The baby would have been normal if born 30 to 45 minutes sooner. The hospital violated the “30-minute rule” (decision to incision). The obstetrician, before she resolved her portion of the case, gave a deposition in which she was highly critical of the nurses. At trial, she was, again, very critical of the nurses. Plaintiffs’ nursing expert provided a long list of criticisms of the nurses. Plaintiffs’ “hospital administration expert” was permitted to testify over the objections of the hospital as he had no training or licensure as a nurse or a medical doctor.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

Continue Reading ›

The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a birth injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this birth injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

Plaintiff alleged that defendant nurses were negligent for failing to monitor the fetus despite an order by the doctor and for allowing the patient to use the bathroom, which probably resulted in a cord prolapse.

In a confidential brief submitted for mediation, defendant claimed that plaintiff had a life expectancy of less than 10 years and CNA-level care would be appropriate, since the parents were not licensed and had provided excellent care for their child.

CLAIMED INJURIES

According to Plaintiff: Cerebral palsy, requiring assistance for all activities of daily living, including g-tube feeding.

CLAIMED DAMAGES

According to Plaintiff: $10,084 Medi-Cal lien; $8.2 to $12.4 million future medical care costs depending on life expectancy, which was disputed by defendant; $1.1 to $1.4 million future loss of earnings, disputed by defendant.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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