$6.5M Malpractice Verdict For Stillborn Baby: In April 2023, a Connecticut medical malpractice wrongful death jury awarded a 37-year-old woman $6.5 million in damages for wrongful death and medical malpractice in her lawsuit against Yale University for the death of her baby during delivery at 37 weeks. The verdict included $1.5 million for wrongful death and $5 million for medical malpractice. The Connecticut medical malpractice jury did not award damages to the baby’s father for his emotional distress.
The woman was at 37 weeks of her pregnancy in 2016 when she went to Yale New Haven Hospital where a vaginal delivery was attempted after the fetus was diagnosed with abdominal ascites. Induction of labor was attempted over the course of two days but a Cesarean section delivery was then scheduled because labor was not progressing satisfactorily.
The C-section delivery did not take place as planned, evidently due to issues in assembling a proper medical team for the delivery on the Saturday evening before Father’s Day. As a result, induction was restarted.
During the attempted vaginal delivery, the baby’s shoulders became stuck in the birth canal, a potential dangerous condition known as shoulder dystocia that must be properly and timely addressed effectively in order to avoid injury to the baby and possibly the mother. Attempts to free the baby from the birth canal failed and the vaginal delivery could not be completed. As a result, the baby did not receive sufficient oxygen and died inside his mother. He also suffered a torn umbilical cord and fractured neck. The deceased baby was ultimately delivered using a paracentesis procedure (removal of peritoneal fluid from the abdomen).
The woman’s Connecticut medical malpractice attorney stated after the verdict, “I feel strongly that they recognize that even though AJ (the baby) was considered by many to be a stillborn because he was never actually taken out of the birth canal alive, the jury provided a verdict for his wrongful death. I feel vindicated in the sense that they recognized that he was a person. This was likely going to be her only child, so it’s hard to say what that represents for her. She is an extremely dedicated mother, I would say, to her deceased child. She has not forgotten. She recognizes his birthday every year, she celebrates his death in many different ways.”
The Connecticut medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit alleged that the baby was too large to attempt a vaginal delivery and Cesarean delivery was required under the circumstances to avoid shoulder dystocia. Had an appropriate Cesarean section delivery occurred, then the baby would have been born alive and survived, according to the plaintiffs.
The Connecticut medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit named as defendants Yale New Haven Health System, Yale New Haven Hospital, and several doctors. However, the jury found only Yale University liable.
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