Baby's brain injury medical lawsuit settles for $3.5 million

At birth, the baby exhibits cerebral palsy symptoms. Nurse midwives, student nurse midwife and registered nurse and physician are defendants in this medical lawsuit. Defendants allegedly responded improperly to signs of fetal distress that resulted in severe permanent brain damage to a baby.

This medical lawsuit involves a now seven-year-old boy with significant, permanent brain damage caused by in utero hypoxia.

According to plaintiffs’ medical attorneys, from the time pregnancy ended to the day of delivery defendants responded inappropriately to obvious signs of fetal distress allowing the unborn baby to become more and more hypoxic, ultimately resulting in permanent brain damage. The defendants deny that their care was the cause of the child’s neurological damage.

At 38 weeks gestation, plaintiff mother placed a call to the midwifery service and told them that she wasn't feeling well. She also reported decreased fetal movement. The responding defendant midwife addressed the mother’s complaints of cough, but failed to address the decreased fetal movement in any way.

Two days after, the plaintiff presented to hospital where she again complained of decreased fetal movement. Defendant registered nurse placed the patient on the fetal monitor and immediately noted alarming findings -- decelerations in the baby's heart rate and absence of accelerations.

This registered nurse and the defendant student nurse midwife would stay with the patient until the baby was ultimately delivered hours later. For the most part, they provided care without the supervision of the attending obstetrician or the supervising certified nurse midwife. At no time did they take any steps to improve blood flow and oxygen to the baby, i.e.: administer an IV fluid bolus, adjust the maternal position, administer oxygen.

At some time during the morning, the supervising certified nurse midwife was contacted and was informed of the presence of the patient and of the non-reassuring appearance of the fetal heart rate pattern. She chose not to come to the hospital as the attending obstetrician was on the premises. The obstetrician claims that he was unaware that the “midwife” with the patient was a student and that in any event, it was not his responsibility to supervise her.

The defendant obstetrician ordered a biophysical profile. The result calls for an urgent delivery of the baby. The defendant obstetrician, however, waited an hour before obtaining the patient’s consent for Cesarean section and failed to relay to the anesthesiologist that the procedure needed to be done urgently. In the meantime, the nurse and the student nurse midwife continued to attend to the patient and still did not undertake any intrauterine resuscitation measures.

The C-section was performed more than three hours after the doctor read the biophysical profile result. At delivery, the baby was showing cerebral palsy symptoms. His heart rate was only 20, he was floppy and was not breathing. Cord pHs were acidotic at 7.02 and 7.04. Apgar scores were 3 and 7. In the nursery, the child had hypocalcemia (low blood calcium levels), thrombocytopenia (low platelets), and hematuria (blood in his urine) – all signs of in utero hypoxia.

He has since been diagnosed with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, cerebral palsy and global developmental delay.

Today, the minor plaintiff lives with devastating inury. He cannot walk or speak. He cannot hold his head up or sit unattended. He feeds via a gastrostomy tube. The minor plaintiff is completely dependent for all activities of daily living.

The plaintiffs claim that the defendants were negligent when each failed to properly respond to the obvious signs of fetal compromise -- decreased fetal activity, a non-reassuring fetal heart rate pattern and a low biophysical profile score. The defendants claim that their care was in keeping with the standard of care and that nothing done or not done contributed to the minor plaintiff’s neurological injury.

The defendants settled the medical lawsuit for $3.5 million before the scheduled trial date.