Medical Verdicts
NOTABLE JUDGMENTS AND SETTLEMENTS IN BRIEF
The defense contended the woman’s symptoms were consistent with perimenopause and not cancer, thus no ultrasound or CA 125 tests were necessary. It also argued that the woman did not follow the gynecologist’s recommendation for laparoscopy to examine the cyst when it was first found.
- The internist settled during the trial for $900,000. The jury returned a defense verdict for the gynecologist.
OB wins, hospital settles in sepsis, stillbirth case
When her amniotic membranes began bulging at 17 weeks’ gestation, a 30-year-old woman presented to a hospital, where her physician and a perinatal consultant recommended termination of the pregnancy.
She allegedly declined to terminate the pregnancy. Five days later she had a temperature of 104.4°F, a nosebleed, and bleeding at blood-draw sites. The physician prescribed ampicillin, clindamycin, gentamicin, and fresh frozen plasma. Blood tests revealed disseminated intravascular coagulation.
The fetus was delivered stillborn an hour later, and the mother suffered cardiac arrest 4 hours later and died of septic shock.
The petitioner for the deceased woman claimed the physician delayed delivery of the fetus, failed to administer effective antibiotics, and failed to consult an infectious disease specialist or a hematologist.
The physician contended antibiotics were ordered while culture results were pending.
- The hospital settled before trial for $1.25 million. The jury returned a defense verdict for the physician.
Uterine rupture in VBAC with oxytocin
After a prior cesarean delivery, a woman and her physician agreed to deliver her second child by cesarean if she did not deliver by a certain date. In the event of earlier labor, she would have a 4-hour trial of labor.
She went into labor before the due date and was given oxytocin. During labor, which extended more than 4 hours, the uterus ruptured, resulting in hypoxic ischemia for the infant, who was born with mild learning disabilities.
In suing, the woman contended the physician should not have given oxytocin, should not have allowed labor to progress beyond 4 hours, and failed to recognize recurrent variable decelerations on the fetal monitor tracings. In addition, she claimed the physician did not examine her during the 5 hours of labor.
The physician countered that the woman was properly examined, monitored, and treated, and denied the child had evidence of cognitive impairment.
- The case settled for $2.25 million.
