Baby with cerebral palsy symptoms awarded $4 million

This is a doctor malpractice case involving an infant who at birth exhibits cerebral palsy symptoms. The minor plaintiff recovers $4 million in medical compensation plus damages for injuries sustained due to fetal distress.

A 34 year-old woman expecting the birth of her first child and was admitted to the hospital in the afternoon with complaints that she had been leaking small amounts of fluids since very early that morning. Tests confirmed that she had ruptured membranes.

The plaintiff also conveyed that she felt good fetal movement earlier that morning but that was unable to detect any signs of movement in the afternoon. The plaintiff was hooked up to an electronic fetal monitor to assess fetal well being as well as to determine the frequency of the plaintiff’s contractions. The plaintiff was unaware of any contractions, but the external fetal monitor displayed mild contractions every 5 to 9 minutes. The baby’s heart rate was reactive with a baseline in the 140’s and no decelerations. Pitocin, a drug used to stimulate labor, was ordered at this time and was subsequently started at 2mu/ml at 4:30 p.m.

At 6:05 p.m., the attending nurse opted for decreased long-term variability and called the attending physician to view the strip. The strip shows a decrease in long-term variability that can indicate that the baby is experiencing some distress, requiring vigilant monitoring.

It took a long time for attending physician to arrive and, in the mean time, additional signs of fetal distress were noted. After several hours of monitoring and noting the baby's worsening condition, no steps were taken to expedite delivery.

The next day at 2:43 a.m., the baby’s heart rate becomes tachycardic at times and there are numerous decelerations with decreased to absent short-term variability. At 4:10 a.m., defendant doctor recognizes that the baby must be delivered and the Pitocin was subsequently shut off, and scalp stimulation was attempted. These were futile steps, as shortly thereafter the baby’s heart rate dropped to 60 bpm and did not recover to baseline.

Defendant doctor claims that between 4:15 and 4:31 a.m. she paged the on-call anesthesiologist (another defendant), in preparation for an emergency Cesarean section. By 4:36 a.m., the fetal heart rate went into a terminal bradycardia, indicating further that the baby was experiencing the cumulative effects of hypoxia. Defendant doctor said that the anesthesiologist was paged a couple of times more after the initial page and that she waited at least 20 minutes for anesthesia. There is no mention of any delay for anesthesia anywhere in the medical records.

However, defendant physicians made the decision to proceed with an emergency Cesarean section without the anesthesiologist. They gave the plaintiff a local anesthetic in order to make their incisions.

The baby was delivered at 4:54 a.m. through particulate meconium. She was limp, apneic and cyanotic with Apgar scores of 1, 2, and 2. She was promptly intubated and taken to NICU.

The minor plaintiff was diagnosed as suffering from hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, severe metabolic acidosis, and respiratory depression. On the first day of life, minor plaintiff's head ultrasound and cranial CT were within normal limits. However, after a couple of weeks MRI would show ischemic changes in the post-frontal and basal ganglia area confirming the diagnosis of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

Today, the minor plaintiff suffers from profound brain damage as a result of the delay in her delivery. About 8 years of age now, she cannot walk, talk or even hold her head upright unsupported. She feeds through a G tube. She continues to take medication for a seizure disorder. She has been diagnosed with spastic quadriparesis, microcephaly and marked gross/motor delays.

Prior to trial, the parties entered into negotiations which resulted in settlement of the matter in two parts due to the fact that the defendants had separate insurers. The case settled for a total of $4 million.