On June 15, 2026, a Montgomery County, Maryland medical malpractice jury deliberated for two and a half hours after a six-day trial before awarding a then 33-year-old woman who was injured during a C-section delivery of her second child $750,000 in noneconomic damages for pain and suffering and $75,656 for future medical expenses (total amount awarded: $826,646).
The plaintiff alleged in her Maryland medical malpractice lawsuit that her bladder was negligently cut by the surgeon that resulted in a cut of more than three inches during the delivery performed at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, in October 2023.
The plaintiff was admitted into the hospital the day before her scheduled delivery after she went into labor. After pushing for four hours without success, her OB elected to perform a nonemergency Cesarean section delivery. The surgeon encountered scar tissue from the plaintiff’s first C-section during the procedure that caused the bladder to be fused to the plaintiff’s uterus. While the surgeon was separating the bladder from the uterus, the bladder was cut between 8 and 9 centimeters, which the surgeon initially attempted to repair. A urologist was then called into the operating room to complete the repair of the unintended bladder injury.
The cut into the bladder failed to fully close, resulting in a vesicouterine fistula that was later closed in January 2024. Despite the efforts to repair the cut into the plaintiff’s bladder, the plaintiff claimed that she continues to experience urinary dysfunction resulting in bladder spasms. She is required to wear diapers or pads at all times. It was recommended to her that she not get pregnant again due to the risk of further complications.
The plaintiff alleged in her Maryland medical malpractice lawsuit that the OB who performed the C-section was negligent in cutting into her bladder and was further negligent in not immediately calling in the surgical urologist to perform the repair instead of attempting the repair herself.
The baby was delivered safely and was unharmed. Holy Cross Hospital was initially named in the Maryland medical malpractice lawsuit but was dismissed from the case before trial.
It has been reported that there is an incidence of 46%-65% for adhesions following primary Cesarean delivery, and even greater rates amongst women who underwent subsequent Cesarean deliveries.
Bladder injury is a rare complication of Cesarean deliveries and has been associated with adhesion formation. One study assessing 14,757 Cesarean sections at a large academic center over seven years found the incidence of bladder injury in repeat Cesarean sections to be 0.28% (42 out of 14,757 women), with women having repeat Cesarean deliveries having nearly four times increased incidence of bladder injury.
If you or your baby suffered a birth injury (or worse) during labor and/or delivery in Maryland or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a birth injury lawyer in Maryland or in your state who may investigate your birth injury claim for you and represent you and/or your child in a birth injury medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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