Negligent Delivery By Vaccum
Lawsuit Against Prince George’s Hospital Center | October 19th, 2018 – Prince George’s County, Maryland
On October 19, 2018, WVFK&N attorney Keith Forman filed a medical malpractice claim on behalf of a minor who suffers from cerebral palsy.
According to the complaint, on the morning of May 18, 2011, the child’s mother was admitted to Prince George’s Hospital Center for suspected pre-term labor at only 27 weeks of gestation. Her pain was rated as 8 out of 10. The child was delivered by vacuum assisted delivery. She was 27 weeks and 2 days at the time of delivery. As of May of 2011, it was well established by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the Food and Drug Administration, the peer-reviewed medical literature, and the package inserts for vacuum devices, such as the MityVac and the KIWI vacuum, that it was inappropriate to use a vacuum to deliver a baby less than 34 weeks gestation. Thus, it was a clear deviation from the standard of care for the child to be delivered by vacuum.
The lawsuit alleges that in the newborn period, the child was diagnosed with intraventricular and periventricular hemorrhages, encephalomalacia, bilateral porencephalic cysts, parenchymal loss and hydrocephalus, in addition to respiratory distress, hyperbilirubinemia, thrombocytopenia and Stage 1 retinopathy of prematurity. Today, the child suffers from spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, visual impairment with optic atrophy, and global developmental delay. The child’s brain bleeds, brain damage, and cerebral palsy were directly and proximately caused by the dangerous and negligent decision to deliver by vacuum. Had the Defendants complied with the applicable standards of care, the child would be a normal, healthy child today.
The action is pending in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, Maryland.
