Failure to Discontinue Pitocin During Labor Causes Severe Physical and Cognitive Injuries to Baby

A Wisconsin jury recently returned a $13.9 million dollar verdict against a mid-wife and her affiliated hospital in a lawsuit that alleged the mid-wife failed to administer appropriate levels of Pitocin to a mother and then failed to perform a timely cesarean section when the baby’s heart rate became non-reassuring. The plaintiff underwent induction of labor and was admitted to the hospital in active labor. She failed to progress for the first two hours and the mid-wife began Pitocin (a drug used to stimulate delivery). Over the next 12 hours, the mid-wife approved increasing doses. The baby’s heart rate slowly dropped and she was ultimately born in a severely depressed condition. She was subsequently diagnosed with cerebral palsy, cannot walk without the aid of walker and has serious cognitive deficits. As a result of the wide ranging deficits that cerebral palsy can cause, lawyers tasked with representing parents whose baby has developed cerebral palsy following the negligence of a health care provider, must have the resources necessary to retain experts in various medical fields necessary to accurately and comprehensively address the baby’s needs for the rest of his/her lifetime. Those experts can include health care providers in the fields of neonatology; pediatrics; neurodevelopmentalists; neurologists; orthopedic specialists; opthamologists; physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists; vocational rehabilitation counselors; life care planners and economists. It is therefore important that you choose a lawyer who has established ties to health care providers in these fields so as to maximize any potential recovery in your case.

Cerebral palsy is a movement disorder that affects muscle tone and posture, and is most often caused by an insult to the baby’s developing brain while in utero. Typical signs and symptoms include floppiness of the limbs and trunk, rigidity of the limbs and trunk, abnormal posture, unsteadiness in walking or a combination of these traits. Many people with cerebral palsy also experience difficulty swallowing or moving their eyes due to muscle imbalances. The range of symptoms can vary greatly from one person to the next. For example, some people affected by cerebral palsy may be able to walk, while others cannot. Some people may be blinded or deaf due to CP. Some people may exhibit normal intellectual function, while others may have significant disabilities.

At STSW, our lawyers routinely handle medical negligence / medical malpractice cases in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area involving birth injuries stemming from a failure to timely deliver a baby via emergency c-section and/or failure to properly monitor a baby in utero, including those circumstances in which the negligence leads to profound injuries to the child, including but not limited to cerebral palsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Call our lawyers at (410) 385-2225 or visit our website for a free consultation with lawyers experienced in these types of cases because these injuries can lead to a lifetime of exorbitant medical expenses for the parents as they care for a seriously injured child, not to mention the likely hundreds of thousands of dollars they have already expended in past medical expenses for the child.