Confidential
Settlement – $1,950,000Facts
The plaintiff's mother received her prenatal care with defendant OB. She had a history of a premature delivery and precipitous labor. Her prenatal course for his pregnancy was complicated by a persistent transverse lie in the last four weeks of the pregnancy and signs of early labor. This presentation put plaintiff at risk for a cord prolapse. Defendant OB refused to send plaintiff to a perinatologist or tertiary care center for a version (externally turning the baby to vertex to lessen the risk of cord prolapse). He claimed that the person he would have sent her did not accept MediCal. The plaintiff was last seen by defendant OB about eight hours prior to going into labor in the evening. Defendant OB testified that he intended to deliver her by C-section the next day and could not have done the delivery that evening since the community hospital he used did not have a surgical team available that night. Surgical records, however, show that the defendant OB did perform a C-section on a different patient that same night and that the team was present and could easily have delivered plaintiff. Instead, the plaintiff was sent home with instructions to return in a week. Eight hours later, she ruptured membrances at home and immediately came to defendant hospital. The nurse on vaginal examination noted a hand presentation and immediately notified defendant OB. He promptly ordered a C-section and came into the hospital. On examination, he noted a cord prolapse with no pulsation in the cord. The patient was delivered some 45 minutes after she initially presented with a severely depressed newborn. The patient was transferred to a tertiary care center shortly after delivery for an extended NICU stay.
Injuries
Severe brain damage, limited life expectancy and gastrotomy tube dependent.
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