An Eaton County judge who was appointed in August 2024 has filed a Michigan birth injury medical malpractice lawsuit against two hospitals, multiple OBGYNs involved with her prenatal care and delivery, and a pediatrician, on behalf of her daughter who suffered catastrophic birth injuries during labor and delivery in 2014.
According to the Michigan birth injury medical malpractice lawsuit, the mother-to-be was suffering from gestational diabetes, which increases the risk of a macrosomic baby (very large baby), when she was admitted to the hospital on May 22, 2014, which was two weeks before her due date. The physicians decided to induce labor and perform a vagnial delivery despite allegedly not discussing the risks of vaginal delivery of a macrosomic baby and the benefits of performing a C-section with the mother, which the lawsut alleges should have been the recommendation of the medical staff participating in the delivery. As the baby was being delivered, the baby suffered shoulder dystocia due to the large size of the baby. Medical staff employed multiple maneuvers to free the stuck shoulder, including an episiotomy, to complete the delivery, without advising the mother to stop pushing, according to the lawsuit.
The mother’s lawsuit further alleges that the medical staff inappropriately pulled on the baby’s arms, head, and neck during efforts to free the baby’s shoulder to complete the delivery, resulting in facial bruising with lacerations on her forehead and neck. The baby suffered low oxygenation and low blood sugar levels at the time of birth, as well as fractures of her right clavicle and left humerus, according to the lawsuit. The 10.3-pound newborn required resuscitation at the time of her birth, and her initial Apgar scores were low. The newborn was transferred to another hosptal shortly after birth.
An MRI performed one week after delivery found evidence of brain damage. The child suffers from severe cognitive impairment and developmental delays as a result of the negligently performed delivery, which will require continuing medical care and other services for the rest of her life, according to the lawsuit.
Medical experts’ affidavits filed with the lawsuit reportedly state that the defendant health care providers breached the standard of care in failing to recommend and perform a C-section delivery, by failing to continually monitor the mother’s blood sugar levels during pregnancy, and by failing to timely take appropriate steps to rehabilitate the newborn.
If you or your child were harmed as a result of medical negligence during prenatlal care, labor, delivery, or birth in Michigan or in another U.S. state, you should find a Michigan medical malpractice lawyer, or a medical malpractice lawyer in your U.S. state, who may investigate your pregnancy medical malpractice claim or birth injury claim for you and represent you and your child in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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