Articles Posted in Birth Injury

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Stacy Maxberry attempted a vaginal birth after a Cesarean section birth. This is often referred to as “V-back.” During the delivery, the fetal monitor showed repetitive decelerations, a dangerous sign for the unborn child. The obstetrician in charge of the birth was Dr. Matthew Whitted, who was contacted about the repetitive decelerations showing on the fetal monitor. However, Dr. Whitted did not come to the hospital to look at the fetal monitoring strips. Maxberry was told to continue pushing.

When the fetal heart rate patterns worsened, Dr. Whitted was called again. This time he ordered a Cesarean section, which was done 30 minutes later. Stacy Maxberry’s son was stillborn.

She sued Dr. Whitted claiming that he chose not to call for a timely Cesarean section after the first phone call and chose not to evaluate the fetal monitoring strips more closely. In the hour between the first and second telephone call to Dr. Whitted, Maxberry argued that her unborn baby suffered a fatal hypoxic event. The jury agreed and entered its verdict in favor of Stacy Maxberry for the wrongful death of her unborn child at $1.5 million.

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During Tristan Hamilton’s delivery, his mother was given Pitocin to induce labor. The treating obstetrician instructed attending nurses to give no more than 20 milli-units of Pitocin to allow only four contractions every ten minutes. The nurses did not follow those instructions.

Because of the excessive amount of Pitocin given (hyperstimulation) and numbing effect of the epidural, Tristan’s mother was unable to push, prompting the obstetrician to attempt a forceps delivery. The baby then became stuck in the birth canal and the physician completed the delivery using a vacuum extractor.

At birth, Tristan had Apgar scores that were one at one minute and three at five minutes. He suffered brain damage in the delayed delivery. He is now 8 years old and has severe motor dysfunction and is unable to walk or talk.

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On Sept. 5, 2015, Jaclyn Pena-Prather arrived at Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Ill., for an elective induction of labor. She was more than 41 weeks’ pregnant. She was a patient of Dr. Carol Korzen, who practiced obstetrics and gynecology in Elgin.

After admission, an external monitor was applied, and the fetus was continuously monitored throughout labor. At 2:15 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2015, she received an epidural for pain. At 4:45 a.m., a nurse contacted Dr. Korzen to update her on the patient’s progress. Dr. Korzen was present at 7:20 a.m. Pena-Prather was coached to begin pushing. At 8:21 a.m., the baby, Gianna, was delivered vaginally, weighing 6 lbs., 4 oz.

However, Gianna’s Apgar scores were very low. One minute after birth, Gianna’s score was zero. At 5 minutes, her score was 1. At ten minutes, her score was 3. The umbilical cord was described as “thin and shoe-string-like,” and was coiled seven times. Gianna was diagnosed with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and metabolic acidosis.

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During the birth of Jasmyn Finch, the obstetrician, Dr. Claire Bernardin encountered Jasmyne’s shoulder stuck behind her mother’s pelvic bone or sacral promontory. When a shoulder dystocia does occur during the delivery phase, it is considered an emergency. It is a dangerous occurrence that can be overcome with the use of maneuvers, such as the McRoberts maneuver. Jasmyne suffered shoulder dystocia, but with the help of an assistant, Dr. Bernardin delivered Jasmyne. Unfortunately, Jasmyne was born with left brachial plexus injury.

As a result of the brachial plexus injury, Jasmyne, who is now 19, cannot lift her left arm above her shoulder. In addition, her left shoulder is 8 centimeters shorter than her right arm.

The brachial plexus is a network of nerves that runs from the spine, neck and through the shoulders. In childbirth, when the shoulder gets stuck as in Jasmyne’s situation, the nerves can be stretched or torn and permanently disrupted. Some brachial plexus injuries heal without the need of surgery. But in this case, the injury to the right shoulder was permanent and devastating.

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H.D. was admitted to a hospital in labor. The nurses and midwife observed H.D. throughout the night without any notable changes. However, early the next morning, the fetal monitor showed non-reassuring signs of the unborn child. No one consulted an obstetrician or warned a doctor about the non-reassuring signs.

About six hours later, H.D. delivered her son; he was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck three times. The hospital’s resuscitation team was attending to another patient, which resulted in an 8-minute delay in having the child intubated.

As a consequence, the baby suffered severe brain damage. He is now 6 years old and has cerebral palsy, developmental delays and a seizure disorder.

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In a confidential settlement, the parties agreed to $1,250,000 for the unfortunate death of a newborn infant. In this case, before the mother’s scheduled Caesarean section, the mother underwent three transplacental amniocenteses to assess her baby’s lung maturity. The purpose of a transplacental amniocentesis is to compare transplacental with non-placental amniocentesis because of possible complications.

Amniocentesis is a frequently used invasive procedure during a woman’s pregnancy guided by ultrasound to remove a sample of amniotic fluid for testing. The procedure requires specialized medical or assistant training. Amniocentesis is a technique for withdrawing amniotic fluid from the uterine cavity using a needle.

The fluid is then tested in a laboratory to determine the health of the unborn fetus. The fluid is composed mostly of fetal substances including urine and secretions. Many times amniocentesis is done to determine whether there are genetic difficulties or to study the maturity of the unborn fetus’s lung maturity. There are risks involved with the transplacental amniocentesis, which occurred here. There was fetal bleeding from an alleged placental abruption that may have been caused by the amniocentesis procedure.

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In 2008 a study was published that focused on uncomplicated pregnancies. The question was whether to induce labor in women whose gestation had reached 41 to 42 weeks. It was revealed that inducing labor in women who have reached 41 weeks of pregnancy and who were otherwise low-risk showed the condition of the baby at birth to be favorable. The goal of obstetricians was to ensure the successful delivery of the baby before 42 weeks of gestation — for the benefit of the baby and mother.

The study suggested that there was an improvement in prenatal outcomes as a result of a more proactive post-term (more than 39 weeks) labor induction practice.

This guideline has shown that there was a significant reduction in the number of stillborn infants at term, 39 weeks of gestation. In addition to this conclusion, it was found or suggested that maternal deaths were also improved with proactive labor induction.

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On March 1, 2011, Jamie Rae was in induced for labor at 39 weeks gestation due to the large size of her baby. The defendant obstetrician, Dr. James Riva, did a vaginal delivery of the baby, Bailei Rae, at a hospital in Maryville, Ill.

During the course of the delivery of Bailei, a shoulder dystocia occurred involving the anterior presenting shoulder. That means that the baby’s shoulder was stuck on the pelvic bone of her mother, Jamie Rae. While performing maneuvers to relieve the shoulder dystocia, Dr. Riva allegedly exerted excessive traction on the baby’s head, causing a 5-level cervical nerve root injury including a complete avulsion at C-8.

As a result, the 9 lbs 2 oz newborn baby, Bailei Rae, sustained a brachial plexus injury to the posterior shoulder with permanent nerve root damage and Erb’s palsy in the left arm.

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The baby, Zoey Stavrou, was delivered by Cesarean section at Edward Hospital in DuPage County, Ill., at 12:25 a.m. on May 14, 2006. She had Apgar scores at 0 at 1, 5 and 10 minutes. At the time of the delivery, a 9-centimeter umbilical cord hematoma was discovered, which had occurred as a result of a ruptured umbilical vein.

Zoey is now 8 years old and has severe cerebral palsy. She is non-verbal and has no functional mobility. She has the cognitive level of a 6-9 month infant and is dependent for all activities of daily living.

Zoey’s family contended that the defendant delivering physician and labor and delivery nurses chose not to properly interpret and act upon non-reassuring fetal monitor strips throughout the evening of May 13. They also contended that the emergency C-section should have been ordered around 9 p.m., but the defendant obstetrician, Dr. Chen, negligently waited until midnight to order the C-section. It was also claimed that Dr. Chen did not perform the incision for the C-section until 12:19 a.m. and the child would have been born neurologically intact if she had been delivered before 12:08 a.m.

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Dr. Sonya L. Thomas was named as a defendant in a birth injury case that was claimed to have been caused by her negligence in the delivery of a baby, Regina Pilero, at St. Anthony Hospital on Jan.  6, 2007. Dr. Thomas is an obstetrician. It was alleged in the lawsuit that was filed on behalf of the minor child that Dr. Thomas chose not to correctly manage shoulder dystocia during Regina’s delivery and used excessive force to extract the baby.

Plaintiffs alleged this caused nerve root avulsion at C-7 with damage to the adjacent nerve trunks at C5-6 to the newborn.  A nerve root avulsion injury causes weakness to the nearby muscles and may be severe.

As a result of the brachial plexus injury, Regina required cable grafting and muscle surgery. Regina has permanent weakness and dysfunction in her left arm that represents $272,026 in past medical expenses along with a future life care plan for therapy and expenses that range from $481,647 to $698,217. In addition, it was presented at trial that Regina would have lost income ranging from $315,000 to $627,648 over the course of her expected life.

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