Birth Injury Lawsuit Alleges Negligence Responsible for Asphyxia, Severe Brain Damage

A mother and father currently residing in Florida have recently filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico in an effort to secure substantial financial compensation on behalf of their minor daughter. According to the complaint, the now 14-year-old girl sustained severe trauma during her delivery and continues to suffer profound disabilities requiring costly medical intervention and ongoing care. The lawsuit represents the latest attempt on the part of the parents to hold the bankrupt defendant medical facility and its insurers accountable for the harm sustained by their child years prior.

The complaint stems from a prior medical malpractice action initiated by the injured child’s parents back in 2007, in which a settlement agreement was reached with Hospital Damas in Ponce, Puerto Rico entitling the plaintiffs to installment payments spread over eight years. However, only one such payment was made before the defendant hospital sought and received bankruptcy protection. At that time, the bankruptcy court explicitly permitted the hospital’s judgment creditors to pursue other responsible parties. After much legal wrangling, the plaintiffs came to the conclusion that a suit against third parties and unnamed hospital insurers was their only chance of pinning down those responsible, due to their ever-changing entity names and bankruptcy tactics.

Complaint alleges delays responsible for severe birth injuries

According to the facts outlined in the complaint, the plaintiff mother experienced a rupturing of her membranes roughly one month ahead of her due date. A subsequent non-stress test revealed a total lack of fetal heart variability, pointing to an immediate need for delivery. Instructed to go directly to the Hospital Damas, the plaintiff mother was to be seen by her physician upon arrival. She reached the hospital at 8:30 a.m. that day, but was not admitted until 10:47 a.m., despite the emergency circumstances. Delivery of the baby by Caesarian section did not occur until 12:30 p.m., at which point the infant presented as extremely quiet, cyanotic, depressed and apneic. 30 minutes later, the baby was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit with several suspected, life-threatening issues.

The baby remained hospitalized for several weeks, receiving diagnoses including sepsis, pneumonia, thrombocytopenia, hyperbilirubinemia, cholestatic jaundice and other serious conditions. In addition, she suffered hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy due to perinatal asphyxia which developed into static encephalopathy which she continues to experience to this day.

Permanent impact of perinatal asphyxia

The impact of the baby’s perinatal asphyxia has been extraordinarily severe, and is permanent in nature. The now 14-year-old girl suffers from brain atrophy and cell death, profound mental retardation, cortical blindness, sensori-neural hearing loss, poor head control, poor limb control, seizure disorder and incontinence. She requires round-the-clock nursing care and fully handicap-accessible living accommodations which will require ongoing modification as she grows. In addition, her condition necessitates intervention from neurologists, pulmonary specialists, physical and speech therapists and gastrointestinal doctors.

Birth injury lawsuit affords victims access to justice

Because her parents lack the type of financial resources required to provide the extensive level of continuous care and treatment she needs, this birth injury lawsuit has been filed as a means to secure assistance. Alleging serious departures from the prevailing standard of medical care, including a failure to promptly hospitalize the plaintiff mother, conduct proper fetal monitoring, diagnose fetal distress, call for a Caesarian section in a timely manner or provide necessary prophylatic antibiotic therapy for a present Group B strep infection, the complaint seeks damages well in excess of $10 million.

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