$2.75 Million for Newborn’s Disabilities after Negligent Management of Labor and Delivery

Attorneys Daniel S. Weinstock and Carolyn M. Chopko secured a $2.75 million settlement for a child who suffered physical and cognitive disabilities after negligent management of labor and delivery by an obstetrician, delivery nurse and second-year OB/GYN resident.

The medical providers failed to recognize and appreciate abnormalities of the mother’s vital signs and abnormal fetal heart rate tracings and administered the medication Pitocin — which induces powerful uterine contractions — in a mom who was already at substantially increased risk for uterine rupture. In addition, the providers delayed performing an emergency c-section by about an hour. By that time, there was a massive rupture of the mom’s uterus, and the baby was found floating in her abdomen.

The defense hotly contested the case on the basis that the child’s neurological abnormalities are atypical of those generally associated with a hypoxic/ischemic event and that he has no motor defects.