$2.25 Million: Delayed cesarean: Baby suffers brain damage
$2.25 Million Settlement
Massachussetts
After an attempted vacuum extraction was unsuccessful and after many hours of hyperstimulation; with continued use of pitocin and fetal distress, the defendant doctor decided to perform a cesarean section. Plaintiff was taken to the operating room. Once in the OR the fetal heart rate had decelerations to 80 bpm. According to the record, after the incision was made, the plaintiff did not have adequate anesthesia and was able to feel the incision made in her abdomen. The cesarean was delayed while anesthesia tried to make the plaintiff comfortable by re-dosing her epidural. The record indicates that after unsuccessfully re-injecting the epidural, the anesthesiologist administered general anesthesia. One hour after the first defendant doctor’s decision to perform a cesarean delivery, the minor plaintiff was born. The minor plaintiff had no spontaneous respirations, and her heart rate was 60. She required resuscitation. Her Apgar scores were 4 at one minute and 7 at five minutes, and her cord pH was 7.06 venous, and 7.00 arterial indicating acidosis. The minor plaintiff was diagnosed as having an hypoxic ischemic injury.
