Failure To Properly Treat Timely – Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury
Lawsuit Against Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center | July 11th, 2018 – Baltimore City, Maryland
On July 11, 2018, WVFK&N attorneys Keith Forman and Myles Poster filed a medical malpractice claim on behalf of a minor who suffered a hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.
According to the complaint, the child’s mother presented to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in November 2017 with complaints of uterine contractions. The child’s mother was admitted to the labor and delivery department and was eventually hooked to a fetal heart rate monitor. The fetal heart rate tracing was non-reassuring with minimal variability and repetitive decelerations that continued showing characteristics consistent with late decelerations. Despite growing signs of fetal distress, there is no evidence that intrauterine resuscitative measures were employed in an attempt to normalize the fetal heart rate or re-oxygenate the baby in utero. Given the persistent non-reassuring fetal heart rate tracing, the healthcare providers should have moved toward cesarean delivery or attempted to confirm fetal well-being through a biophysical profile. However, in violation of the applicable standards of care, no intrauterine resuscitative measures were attempted, no cesarean section was offered, and no additional testing was undertaken to confirm fetal well-being. The situation deteriorated over time and the child was eventually delivered via caesarian section delivery. In the immediate newborn period, the child was diagnosed with shock, metabolic acidosis, respiratory failure, hypovolemia, anemia, renal failure, intraventricular hemorrhage, ventriculomegaly, evolving severe periventricular leukomalacia, and microcephaly, among other diagnoses.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants failed to properly and timely respond to the child’s condition and failed to timely and properly treat the child’s deteriorating clinical status. As a result, the child is developmentally delayed and suffers from cerebral palsy. As a direct and proximate result of the defendants’ negligence, the child suffered permanent neurological injuries and damages during labor and delivery and will require significant medical care and treatment due to the effects of the severe hypoxic-ischemic brain injury she sustained.
The action is pending in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland.
