Isabella Calcagno was born on June 17, 2002. She was born with meconium aspiration at the University of Illinois Medical Center (UIC) in Chicago. She was in the hospital for three weeks while she was treated for meconium aspiration syndrome.
The defendant, Dr. Amrit Thandi, was a second-year resident at UIC’s family practice clinic. Dr. Thandi had followed the mother of Isabella during her prenatal course and was present during the child’s delivery.
Isabella’s parents alleged that Dr. Thandi was negligent in allowing the pregnancy to progress to 46 weeks gestation before delivering the baby. The defendant doctor argued that Isabella was born at 42 weeks gestation, that all prenatal visits with Dr. Thandi were reviewed by an attending physician who agreed with Thandi’s plan of care, the mother’s cervix was never ripe for induction of labor, the maternal/fetal medicine specialist saw Isabella’s mother on June 13, 2002 and did not recommend induction of labor. In addition, it was the defendant’s position that none of the attending physicians recommended induction of labor at any point during the prenatal course.