Peter Chamas, ESQ recovered $14,000,000 for parents who alleged that medical errors during childbirth caused their son’s cerebral palsy and brain damage. This medical malpractice lawsuit occurred in Middlesex County.
There were no complications or problems when the mother went to the hospital for a scheduled induction of labor, according to plaintiff’s lawyer Peter Chamas of Gill & Chamas in Woodbridge. She was under the care of a registered nurse and as the vital signs of the fetus began to deteriorate, the nurse allegedly failed to give timely notice to the doctor. The fetus was deprived of oxygen, which resulted in a hypoxic ischemic brain injury resulting in multiple disabilities.
The settlement was reached with a registered nurse, the hospital which employed her, and a doctor.
While the registered nurse was monitoring the child, his heart rate began to fall, then return to normal, and then fell again. As the heart rate began to show prolonged periods of deceleration the nurse should have called the patient’s OBGYN and the hospital’s staff doctor on duty, to report the falling heart rate. The staff waited 32 minutes after the child’s heart rate warranted intervention.
The on staff hospital doctor arrived within minutes of being called, ordered a cesarean section delivery, and began performing that procedure. Upon delivery, the infant was lifeless and received emergency resuscitation, including endotracheal intubation, chest compressions, insertion of umbilical vein line and epinephrine to stimulate his heart.
Because he had a period of oxygen loss, the child suffered brain damage manifested as cerebral palsy, making him non-ambulatory with no use of his hands. He also experiences developmental and intellectual disabilities and epilepsy and requires use of a feeding tube.
