$500,000 Jury Verdict for Improper Tissue Sample Was Taken from Deceased Fetus

Katie and Michael Smith were expecting their sixth child when an examination showed that there was an absence of a fetal heartbeat. Katie Smith later delivered the fetus at Maine General Medical Center.

Tissue samples from the chromosomal testing were taken in the presence of the parents and the couple stated unequivocally to an attending physician that they did not want other samples taken from the baby’s body or additional procedures performed.

Nevertheless, pathologist Carol Saunders later removed a tissue from the baby in the pathology lab, leaving a large, gaping hole in the left side of the body. The Smith family discovered this deformity caused by the pathologist when they went to a funeral home to view the baby’s remains.

The Smiths sued the hospital alleging professional negligence in that they claimed that the hospital chose not to document the couple’s instructions and convey those instructions to the pathologist. The Smiths also claimed that although they requested the return of the baby’s retained tissue samples, the defendant hospital chose not to comply with this request for two months.

The jury’s verdict was for $500,000. The attorney handling this case for the Smith family was Thomas L. Douglas.

Smith v. Maine General Medical Center, No. CV-14-34 (Ma. Super. Ct. Kennebec County).

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling birth injury lawsuits, birth trauma injury cases, brain injury lawsuits and medical malpractice cases for individuals, families and loved ones who have been harmed, injured or died as a result of the carelessness or negligence of a medical provider for more than 40 years in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Forest Park, Norridge, Niles, Skokie, Wilmette, Glenview, Burr Ridge, Calumet Park, Chicago Heights, Countryside, Crete, Franklin Park, Oak Lawn, Mount Prospect, Lincolnwood, Lincolnshire, Homewood, Olympia Fields, Orland Hills, Tinley Park, Park Forest, Palos Hills, Chicago (West Lakeview, Portage Park, Garfield Ridge, Gladstone Park, Diversey Harbor, DePaul University Area, Cathedral District, Buena Park, Morgan Park, Near East Side, Pulaski Park, Printer’s Row, Princeton Park, Wildwood, Loyola Park, Archer Heights, Armour Square, Belmont Garden), Geneva, Lisle, Kenilworth, Fox River Grove, Cicero and Round Lake, Ill.