Sacramento Birth Injury Case Results After Doctor Fails to Report Abnormal Pregnancy Issues, Part 1 of 2

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: Alex was born with cerebral palsy with moderate to severe developmental delay.

Facts:

On May 21, 2004, plaintiff, age and profession undisclosed, was due to give birth. In the preceding months, her pregnancy was being followed by obstetrician Hammer and a nurse practitioner at the ABC Medical Center.

All exams were recorded on a computer. An early ultrasound was normal, and Plaintiff’s AFP testing was normal. However, the computer program made it difficult to compare results from successive exams without printing out additional documents. Thus, there were no notes recording that Plaintiff had minimal weight gain in her last trimester or that there was a significant discrepancy between her fundal heights and gestational age.

On May 8, the fundal height dropped from 36 cm to 33 cm with a three-pound weight gain over the previous 11 weeks.

On May 14, Plaintiff was at 39 weeks gestation, and the fundal height was 34 cm.

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

On May 22, Plaintiff was at 40 and one-seventh weeks gestation, and the fundal height was 33 cm with eight pounds of weight gain in the previous 13 weeks of pregnancy.

The obstetrician stripped Plaintiff’ membranes and instructed her to return on May 28 for a non-stress test followed by induction of labor. On May 28 at 10:35 a.m., there was a deceleration of the fetal heart rate to 60, and the labor and delivery nurse called the obstetrician, who arrived 15 minutes later. An exam showed that Plaintiff was 3 cm to 4 cm dilated, and there was thick meconium with little fluid at the rupture of membranes. At 10:49 a.m., an epidural was started, and the obstetrician left the hospital and went to her nearby office.

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

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