Articles Posted in Obstetrician Errors

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Amanda Hoover delivered her child by cesarean section at Banner-University Medical Center. After the delivery, Hoover experienced chronic abdominal pain, intermittent fever and chills, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. She underwent testing and was later diagnosed as having a foreign body in the lumen of her sigmoid colon.

Hoover underwent surgery during which a surgical sponge and a 20-cm section of her sigmoid colon were surgically removed.

She sued Banner-University Medical Center and Banner University Medical Group alleging that leaving a surgical sponge in her body after the cesarean section delivery amounted to a deviation from the standard of care.
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Brittani Clavet was admitted to the University of Connecticut’s John Dempsey Hospital at 35 weeks gestation. The treating obstetrician, Dr. David Park, allegedly attempted a manual rotation of the baby’s head while observing that she was in the occiput posterior position.

An occiput posterior position is when the baby’s head is down, but it is facing the mother’s front instead of her back. It is known to be safe to deliver a baby facing this way, but it is harder for the baby to get through the mother’s pelvis.

A resident physician attempted a second manual rotation, after which the fetal monitor began to show frequent deep deceleration and tachycardia. Dr. Park allegedly ordered a stat cesarean section.
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After Ms. Doe, 35, delivered her third child, she continued to hemorrhage. Doe’s attending obstetrician ordered exploratory surgery to determine the cause of the bleeding. Doe was transferred to an operating room.

The obstetrician allegedly did not order a backup supply of compatible blood before this surgery. Additionally, the attending anesthesiologist did not order the emergency release of blood for Doe, despite her continued bleeding.

During the surgery, Doe coded. Medical staff were able to resuscitate her, but she suffered catastrophic brain damage. Doe died the next day and was survived by her fiancé and three minor children.
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Ms. Doe, 63, underwent a hysterectomy performed by Dr. Roe. Almost three weeks after the procedure, she was admitted to a hospital where testing showed that she had a gangrenous cecum.

Ms. Doe underwent two colectomy surgeries, was hospitalized for three weeks and required a month of inpatient rehabilitation.

Ms. Doe now suffers from chronic abdominal pain but is not a candidate for reversal of her colostomy. In addition, she requires daily in-home assistance.
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Ms. Doe underwent a laparoscopic hysterectomy that was performed by Dr. Roe, an obstetrician; she was discharged the same day.

She contacted the doctor’s office over the next few days, complaining that she felt ill and was experiencing pain. Four days after the surgery, Doe went to a hospital emergency room where a CT scan showed an accumulation of fluid in her pelvis. Surgery located a hole in Doe’s sigmoid colon, which necessitated a colostomy.

Doe also was later diagnosed as having an injured right ureter. Doe required a colostomy bag for ten months. She also required surgery to treat several incisional hernias.
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Hope Johnson, 20, was a student who was considering hormonal birth control. In doing so, she underwent a blood test to determine whether she was at risk for blood clots. Although the test for Factor V Leiden was positive for a clotting mutation, Johnson’s treating ob/gyn told her that her Factor V Leiden results were normal.

About one month later, after starting birth control pills, she went to Auburn Urgent Care complaining of shortness of breath, chest pain, cough, headache and sore throat. She told the staff there that she was taking birth control pills. Dr. Zenon Bednarski, the owner and supervising physician of the clinic, diagnosed Ms. Johnson with pneumonia and bronchitis after an X-ray was taken. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic and sent Johnson home to return only if her condition worsened.

Ms. Johnson returned to the clinic two days later when her chest pain and shortness of breath became much worse. She reported these symptoms to newly hired Dr. David Willis who ordered a CBC (complete blood count), which showed an oxygen saturation level of 91. Dr. Willis performed no physical exam. He was unable to access Johnson’s medical chart from the previous clinic visit, diagnosed a high white blood count and shortness of breath and prescribed an inhaler. The very next day, Hope Johnson died of massive pulmonary emboli. She was survived by her parents and two siblings.
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Lilia Torres, 34, began spotting during the eighth week of her pregnancy. She went to a hospital where she had an ultrasound. She later followed up with her treating obstetrician after receiving a diagnosis of placental previa and possible placental accrete, a condition in which the placenta attaches too deeply to the uterine wall. For the remaining period of her pregnancy, she saw several obstetricians and midwives at the same medical practice.

At 39 weeks of gestation, two of the obstetricians performed a cesarean section the day after the procedure was scheduled. After the delivery, Torres suffered massive blood loss.

Torres, who lost at least ten liters of blood, suffered cardiogenic and pulmonary shock. Shortly afterward, she died of complications of hemorrhagic shock and multi-organ failure. She was survived by her husband and her four minor children.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago has affirmed the dismissal of a Federal Tort Claims Act lawsuit sounding in medical malpractice filed by plaintiff Anna Chronis. She claimed that in June 2015, when she visited the University of Illinois Mile Square Health Center for her annual physical examination, the pap smear procedure did not detect cervical cancer. However, the procedure allegedly caused an injury, pain and bruising, she claimed.

After her Pap smear procedure, she claimed she tried to follow up with her physician, Dr. Tamika Alexander, but was unable to reach her. The complaint stated that the Health Center did not return Chronis’s calls or allow her to make a follow-up appointment. Chronis filed a written complaint with the health center’s grievance committee, requesting $332 for the expenses that she incurred because of the pap smear injury. But after reviewing her letter complaint, the Health Center rejected her request.

The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) was dismissed when the district court judge found that Chronis had decided not to exhaust her administrative remedies because she had chosen not to make a sum certain demand to the appropriate federal agency before filing her lawsuit.
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The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit of Chicago held that a prior acts exclusion under an insurance policy issued by a professional liability insurer to a medical-practice insurer excluded coverage. The exclusion was ruled legal only if the medical-malpractice insurer committed an actual wrongful act, not just if it was accused of committing such an act.

MedPro, the insured medical malpractice carrier in this case, was represented by Clyde & Co., LLP of Washington, D.C. The professional liability insurer was American International Specialty Lines Insurance Co. (AISLIC).

MedPro issued medical-malpractice coverage to Dr. Benny Phillips, subject to a $200,000 liability limit.
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Hamidan Mahamad underwent an annual gynecological checkup performed by an obstetrician, Dr. Herbert Mosberg, an employee of Hollis Women’s Center. Mahamad was in her middle 60s at the time of this exam. A routine transvaginal ultrasound showed the presence of free fluid in Mahamad’s pelvis, which was not there on previous ultrasounds.

Dr. Mosberg said that the latest test was normal. However, nine months later, Mahamad was diagnosed as having ovarian cancer that had metastasized to her uterus, liver and other organs.

In spite of several rounds of chemotherapy and surgery, Mahamad passed away from her illness about two years later. She is survived by her two adult children.
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