New York Medical Malpractice Attorneys

$4,000,000-Inadequate care during pregnancy and failure to perform C-section resulted in cerebral palsy and other injuries

Fitzgerald & Fitzgerald Case #94080A

Medical Malpractice

Cerebral Palsy, Encephalopathy, Periventricular Leukomalacia

Settlement: $4,000,000.00

Injuries:     

• Residue of a static encephalopathy
• Cerebral palsy
• Periventricular leukomalacia
• Severe generalized motor impairment
• Spastic diplegia
• Strabismus
• Developmental delay
• Brain damage
• Intellectual impairment
• Mental retardation
• Severely diminished cognitive functions
• Loss of vision in right eye

Facts and Claim of Liability:    

This birth injury case involved a child (hereinafter referred to as Plaintiff) with cerebral palsy, encephalopathy, developmental delays and brain damage.  Plaintiff was born on February 14, 1993 at 30 weeks of gestation.  Plaintiff’s mother was 16 years old at the time of Plaintiff’s birth, prior to which she had had two abortions.

On February 14, 1993, Plaintiff mother was brought to the Defendant Hospital, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center), at 10:30 a.m. by Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and was subsequently managed by Defendant Dr. A. Hamzah, M.D., a first year attending physician.  According to the medical records, by 11:15 a.m., Plaintiff’s mother was 8 to 9 centimeters dilated.  She was attached to a fetal heart monitoring machine (FHM), which recorded one acceleration and many decelerations, including late deceleration and moments of decreased beat-To-beat variability (BTBV).  Despite indications of utero-placental insufficiency and fetal distress, no immediate C-section was performed.

At around 12:15 p.m., Plaintiff’s mother was noted to be fully dilated.  Plaintiff was ultimately delivered vaginally at 12:32 p.m.  There was no meconium observed at birth. Apgar scores were noted as 3, 4 and 5 at 1, 5 and 10 minutes, respectively.  Plaintiff was noted to have no spontaneous breathing at birth and was bagged with 100% oxygen.  Regardless of Plaintiff’s critical conditions at birth, he was not admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) until 1:30 p.m., almost an hour after birth.

On admission to NICU, Plaintiff was put on mechanical ventilation and cardio-pulmonary monitor.  He was diagnosed as having perinatal asphyxia, apnea, and bradycardia of prematurity.  Numerous events were noted, including anemia, intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), possible retinopathy of prematurity, hazy lung pictures, aspiration, persistent acidosis, low PO2s and bicarbonates.  A head sonogram further revealed extensive bilateral periventricular leukomalacia (PVL). Infant Plaintiff was discharged at one month of age. He was delayed in his developmental milestones and diagnosed as having cerebral palsy.

Fitzgerald & Fitzgerald claimed that the Defendant Hospital, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center), its agent and employees, and Dr. A. Hamzah, M.D. departed from generally good and accepted medical practice by failing to: (1) promptly examine Plaintiff’s mother upon admission; (2) appreciate his mother’s prior history of abortion and consider her as a high risk pregnancy; (3) sufficiently and adequately monitor Plaintiff before birth; (4) detect and monitor utero-placental insufficiency; (5) timely deliver Plaintiff via cesarean section; and (6) properly manage Plaintiff’s respiratory distress syndrome and blood pressure, which resulted in severe, grievous and permanent injuries to Plaintiff.