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Birth Injury
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- Despite New Law, Midwives May Still Need Practice Orders to Practice Safe Medicine
- New Guidelines May Help Prevent Unnecessary Caesarean Sections
- Can you sue for your child being born?
- New Link Found Between Cerebral Palsy and Fertility Treatments?
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Posted on 4/7/2010
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Birth Injury
- Problems that are associated with a premature delivery
- Infants resuscitated at birth have an increased risk of a low IQ score, even if they remain healthy during the neonatal period
- How to prove that your child's cerebral palsy is not a genetic abnormality
- Do not choose a nurse midwife for your pregnancy or labor and delivery until you read this!
- Mom entitled to damages for emotional anguish from birth of stillborn baby
DISCLAIMER: Please note that every case is different and these verdicts and settlements, while accurate, do not represent what we may obtain for you in your case.
$4,100,000 for baby suffering spastic quadriplegia and cerebral palsy
Baby suffered spastic quadriplegia and severe cerebral palsy as the result of the failure of the obstetrician, Carlos T. Tejada, M.D., and the labor and delivery nurses at the Kingston Hospital to monitor the baby's medical condition just prior to her mother's labor and delivery. The baby suffered profound and multiple physical handicaps, severe cognitive deficits and major neurological handicaps, including spastic quadriplegia and severe cerebral palsy.
From the moment that our client arrived at the Kingston Hospital at 11:00 p.m., the nurses recognized a non-reassuring fetal heart rate pattern with minimal variability and late decelerations. These were ominous signs that the baby was not getting enough oxygen.
One hour after the mother's admission to the Kingston Hospital at 12 midnight, the nurses recognized a sinusoidal pattern on the fetal heart rate strips. This was another ominous sign of distress to the baby and was a serious concern to the nurse. Throughout the labor, the nurse recognized a non-reassuring fetal heart rate pattern that got worse and worse during the labor. This all happened during a point in the labor called the first stage of labor. When the cervix opens up fully, that's called the second stage of labor.
At 2:30 a.m., the nurses called a pediatrician, Jane Ferguson, M.D., to ask that she come to the hospital and she was advised about the non-reassuring fetal heart rate pattern. At 5:00 a.m., another nurse called Dr. Ferguson to request her presence at the delivery. Three different nurses called Dr. Ferguson to ask that she come to the hospital, but she did not come to the hospital until 6:00 a.m., 40 minutes after the baby was born.
At 5:23 a.m., the baby was born via a vaginal delivery. The baby didn't breathe, cry and did not have any spontaneous breathing on its own for seven minutes and did not have a heart beat. The baby was cyanotic and her color was blue. Resuscitation attempts began.
The baby was oxygen deprived, in severe distress and had received a major insult to her brain. There was a deprivation of oxygen to the brain, and the lack of oxygen destroys brain tissue. This child was born in a state of asphyxia. The baby did not have her first gasp of breath until seven minutes after birth. At ten minutes after birth, her maximum Apgar score was only five, and she was cyanotic and pale, which shows there's a problem with respiration and oxygen. This was a traumatic birth and it required, in accordance with good and standard medical care, close attention by an attending physician.
The child is severely brain injured and that injury manifests itself in a profound mental retardation. There is no cure for this condition. The child will require enormous costs for the rest of her life.
The medical license of the obstetrician, Carlos T. Tejada, M.D. was permanently restricted by the State Board of Professional Medical Conduct, Department of Health for "failing to ensure the prompt delivery of the baby of Patient B when the fetal monitor tracing showed minimal variability, persistent late decelerations and the sinusoidal pattern did not improve." The obstetrician, Carlos T. Tejada, M.D., did not contest the charges of negligence and incompetence on more than one occasion and his medical license was "permanently limited precluding the practice of obstetrics." The Consent Agreement and Order can be reviewed on the Department of Health's Physician Profile website, www.nydoctorprofile.com.
At trial, the theory of liability against the labor and delivery nurses at the Kingston Hospital was that they failed to activate the "chain of command" when they knew that the obstetrician, Carlos T. Tejada, M.D., was acting in an incompetent manner. Nurses have a duty toward the patient that is separate and apart from the physician's. Each hospital has a specific chain of command that is to be instituted when a physician's conduct places a patient at risk. Labor and delivery nurses are the patient's adovocate and the baby's advocate too.
The plaintiff established that the Kingston Hospital did not have a chain of command. The mother and her baby had no advocate--no one to speak for them when the nurses knew that the obstetrician was not managing the labor and delivery competently. The nurses were too afraid to speak for them, even when the fetal heart tracings continued to deteriorate. The nurses knew that the baby was in trouble, but they did nothing.
Of the $4.1 million settlement, defendant, Carlos T. Tejada, M.D., paid $2.1 million, Kingston Hospital paid $1.4 million and defendant, Jane Ferguson, M.D., paid $600,000.
This case was the subject of a feature article in the Poughkeepsie Journal about medical malpractice.
Awarded: $4,100,000
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John H. Fisher
303 Clinton Avenue
Kingston, New York 12402-3058
Phone: 518.265.9131
Toll Free: 866.889.6882