A recent Cook County medical malpractice case illustrates the importance of a timely delivery. The Illinois birth injury case involved the late delivery of a child after the mother presented to the hospital with warning signs of an uterine rupture.
The child is now four and has sustained permanent injuries, including cognitive visual impairment and cerebral palsy. A Cook County Circuit Court judge dismissed the case after the family reached a settlement with Loyola University Medical Center.
In this case the mother had arrived at Chicago’s Loyola University Medical Center with weak contractions and after being evaluated was assessed as not being in labor. In order to induce labor the attending physician and resident decided to administer Pitocin, a drug designed to accelerate contractions and labor.
As the staff continued to wait for the labor to progress the baby’s heart rate began to weaken, which is yet another sign of uterine rupture. Yet the physicians continued to focus on a vaginal delivery and wait. It wasn’t until the fetal heart rate had slowed to dangerously low levels that the Cesarean section was even ordered. But unfortunately by this time it was too late and the child was delivered with lifelong impairments.
Like any surgery, a Cesarean section carries certain risks and complications that a natural vaginal delivery does not. However, there comes a point in time when the risks of prolonging a birth outweigh the risks of a Cesarean section. The well-being of the child and mother should always be the focus of any decision. In this unfortunate case the physicians failed to properly interpret the warning signs. Their negligence resulted in permanent harm to this child and family.
Kreisman Law Offices has been handling Cook County birth injury cases for over 30 years, serving areas in and around Chicago, including Evanston, Naperville, Oak Park, and Buffalo Grove.