Birth Injury Lawyers

Bronx, Brooklyn, Long Island, Queens, Manhattan, New York City, NY

Fetal Distress

This is an example of an medical malpractice case that we successfully handled for a mother and her infant son. The case involves a failure to properly respond to fetal distress.

 

The infant was born on May 4 at a local Queens hospital amid pea soup meconium by emergency cesarean section.

 

His mother had attended prenatal care a local Queens hospital. She had a history of a cervical malignancy having been removed as well as a finding of being Rh negative.

 

She had a history of two prior abortions so Rhogan was given during this pregnancy.

 

Her due date was initially given as April 27, but was later changed to April 21, presumably based on sonography.

 

The patient presented for prenatal visits on April 7 to the prenatal clinic, then April 12 to the hospital complaining of lower back pain, pain on walking and inability to sleep. She was diagnosed with urinary tract infections sent home with a prescription for Pyridium and Marcobid.

 

It was noted that she was having occasional contractions when put on a fetal monitor. Fetal heart tape readings for that date (listed as April 11) on the actual tapes seem to show some decelerations.

 

The patient went home and took the medication as prescribed. She return to the hospital emergency room on April 21 complaining that her water seemed to have broken.

 

Again she was placed on a fetal monitor. Nitrazene testing was reported as negative and there was no pooling of amniotic fluid. Valsalva maneuver was also negative. The record does not indicates that fern testing was performed.

 

The patient returned to the prenatal clinic on April 28 and a nonstress test was performed. She was now approximately one week postdates. At that time, she was told to return to the clinic in one week.

 

Thereafter the clinical record of her treatment becomes spotty. There was a fetal heart monitoring tracing dated May 1 but no corresponding clinic note. The next record appears to have been made in May but is undated. According to the patient the visit was May 3 and she was complaining of contractions. At this point she was 12 days postdates and not yet had a biophysical profile.

 

On the date of delivery May 4 the patient was admitted at about 8 PM. As of 9:30 PM the hospital know the following: that she was 12 to13 days postdate; that they had ruptured her membranes at nine clock and obtain thick pea soup meconium; that they had put in a vaginal monitor and had gotten some decelerations; that they could not do a fetal scalp pH; and that the tracings went very flat with more decelerations for about 15 minutes with essentially no variability whatsoever. All of this was known by 9: 30 p.m. yet the cesarean section was not done until 10:45. P.M.

 

According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology standards and emergency cesarean section should be able to be carried out within 30 minutes and it should have been done here with the decision being made at 9:30 PM.

 

The child was sent to the New York Hospital Cornell medical center at 2:25 AM were he was treated for meconium aspiration. He now suffers from developmental delay and cerebral palsy. All of this could have been avoided with a proper and timely cesarean section.

 

If any of the facts of this case seeing oddly familiar to you or your family please do not hesitate to contact us for answers to your questions.

 

As a result of the medical malpractice that occurred in the Queens Hospital and a multitude of injuries suffered by the infant plaintiff, the infant and mother received a substantial multimillion dollar recovery.

 

If you or a loved one has had a difficult delivery and have questions about the quality of the medical care you received please call Silberstein, Awad & Miklos' attorneys for answers. Together we will continue our fight against FRIVOLOUS DEFENSES and DECEPTIVE DEFENSES. Our birth injury lawyers serve New York and NYC including Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Long Island, and Queens.

 

 

 

Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C.
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