Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Common Pleas Court
After a nonstress test at her obstetrician’s office was nonreassuring, a gravida was sent to a nearby medical center, where an emergency cesarean was ordered. An ultrasound examination conducted at a different hospital 2 days prior was also nonreassuring, but no action was taken at that time.
Following the order to perform an emergency cesarean, 1 hour and 20 minutes passed before anesthesia was ready. The child, delivered 40 minutes later, suffered hypoxic injury leading to severe cerebral palsy. Age 17 at the time of trial, he has no use of his limbs and suffers severe mental retardation.
The plaintiffs sued the hospital that conducted the ultrasound, alleging negligence. They also sued the obstetrician and the medical center where the cesarean was performed, claiming delivery was unacceptably delayed. Had the child been delivered in a timely manner, they argued, his cerebral palsy could have been avoided.
The physician and medical center claimed the child’s injury occurred well before delivery, and an earlier cesarean would not have changed the outcome.
- The hospital performing the ultrasound settled prior to trial. The jury awarded plaintiffs $30 million against the obstetrician and delivering medical center.