Doctor Sued After Mother Claims Negligence On His Part To Delay Birth, Part 1 of 3

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.

Facts:

At approximately 1 a.m. on Jan. 6, 2005, plaintiff Cathy Teimen, 32, a nurse practitioner, was admitted to the labor and delivery unit at XYZ Center of Modesto. Teimen was 23 weeks pregnant with twins, who were conceived through artificial insemination. The night before, Teimen developed a pink discharge and experienced cramps and abdominal discomfort, leading her husband to take her to the hospital. Teimen is an insulin-dependent diabetic.

At the hospital, Teimen was evaluated by a labor and delivery nurse, who recorded contractions every three to four minutes apart. At 2:20 a.m., the nurse called Dr. Henry Perk, a local obstetrician who was one of two doctors following Teimen’s pregnancy. Perk ordered Terbutaline be given to stop the contractions, and also that a fetal fibronectin test (FFT) be done on Teimen. The FFT was positive for the presence of fetal fibronectin, while the first doses of Terbutaline did not stop the contractions, all of which the nurse reported to Perk at 3:45 a.m. Perk ordered a different drug, Nifedipine, and said that Teimen could be released in 30 minutes if the contractions stopped and she was feeling better. After it appeared that the Nifedipine stopped the contractions, Teimen was discharged from the hospital at 4:30 a.m.

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