Malpractice Verdict: NY jury renders verdict in excess of $60 million for brain damage from dystocia

Mary Swanson gave birth to Michael Swanson, October 10, 2003 at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, NY. While giving birth, Mary Swanson was found to have dystocia,  a condition in which the child’s shoulder becomes entrapped by the mother’s pubic bone.

Mrs. Swanson and her husband, Bruce, alleged that the obstetrician, Dr. Carla Eng-Kohn, and the hospital’s staff were negligent in properly performing Michael’s delivery.

Plaintiffs’ counsel also claimed that dystocia was a result of a nurse’s mismanagement of the delivery. Dr. Eng-Kohn was not present when the nurse initiated the pushing process. Swanson’s counsel contended that Mary Swanson’s unsupervised pushing led to the development of the dystocia.

The plaintiffs’ expert obstetrician also opined that eight or nine minutes passed before the dystocia was relieved, and the plaintiffs’ expert neurologist testified that the prolonged dystocia asphyxiated the baby. He stated his opinion that monitors indicated that Michael suffered two minutes of tachycardia, which is an abnormally fast heartbeat, and he suggested that the condition was an indication of distress. Plaintiffs’ counsel claimed that Michael was not crying when he was delivered and that the child’s face exhibited a bluish discoloration.

To complete delivery, excessive traction was applied to the baby’s head causing a brachial plexus injury and lateral medullary syndrome. The child’s residual injuries include moderate speech delays and the delayed ability to swallow and complications from aspiration pneumonia. Plaintiffs claimed Michael will need surgical intervention and/or need permanent residential care, intense speech, physical and occupational therapy.

Michael’s parents sought recovery of Michael’s past medical expenses, the cost of his future rehabilitative therapy, the cost of his future custodial care, his remaining future medical expenses, his future lost earnings, and damages for his past and future pain and suffering .

After hearing all the evidence, the jury found that Women’s Medical Associates was vicariously responsible for Dr. Eng-Kohn’s actions and along with the doctor, was assigned 75% of the total liability. Northern Westchester Hospital was charged with the other 25% liability. The Swanson’s were awarded a total of $60,939,847.00 for all damages.

Physicians to test new emergency treatment for traumatic brain injuries

Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) occur, sadly, much more frequently than you may think.  The effects are often permanent, life-threatening and/or significant in nature.  TBIs can negatively affect many vital parts of one’s daily living, as well as the people around them.  A recent article discusses a new emergency treatment that may help combat those effects.  This treatment is spear-headed by the Emergency Department of Stanford Hospital and Clinics, as well as the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, and is more fully detailed below:  

The Stanford team and physicians at 16 other U.S. sites want to test the efficacy of a new drug treatment. In a phase-3 clinical trial that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, patients with traumatic brain injuries would receive progesterone, a hormone normally found in our bodies, to determine if it helps lessen brain swelling and damage.

Animal studies and two small clinical studies have indicated that progesterone may be beneficial in treating TBI patients. Quinn, who is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, also noted that progesterone “has been around a long time, and it’s a substance we know a lot about” because it has been used for birth control and for hormone therapy.

In the trial, TBI patients who are brought to Stanford, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and the other participating medical centers would be separated randomly into two groups. One group would get an IV mixture that has progesterone, and the other group would get an IV drip without progesterone. Everyone enrolled in the study would receive standard medical care for a brain injury — maintaining blood pressure and providing oxygen — and all patients would be contacted by telephone every month for five months, to check on their progress before returning at six months for final neurological testing.

The proposed trial is unusual because the IV treatment would have to begin within four hours of the onset of an injury — at a time when most TBI patients aren’t alert enough to give consent, and their families can’t get to the emergency department fast enough to give consent. “The people we see in the ED often come in unconscious, and we know from experience that finding family members to give consent for treatment in the emergency setting can be difficult,” Quinn said.

The consent controversy is one that will most likely not go away anytime soon.  The article states that there are federal laws in place, that allow such procedures to occur, without the patient’s informed consent.  With this in mind, Stanford has posted a link for interested individuals to take a survey, in regard to their feelings regarding such a procedure.

We leave you with some somber statistics:

Every 15 seconds, someone in the United States suffers a major traumatic brain injury. Every five minutes, someone is forever disabled as a result of a TBI. Some 52,000 deaths per year are caused by these injuries. TBIs are the leading cause of death in people aged 1 to 44.

Let’s hope these numbers decrease as time goes on, with advances in safe medical technology and innovation.