On July 6, 2021, Partner Steven Kraus secured a defense verdict for our client, the then Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at a leading metropolitan New York teaching hospital, in an obstetrical malpractice case involving a neonate death after 58 days of life as well as claimed physical and emotional injuries to the mother.
The plaintiff/mother presented to our client at 29 weeks with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) and chorioamnionitis leading to the intrauterine infection of the fetus. Plaintiff’s counsel claimed that the baby’s fetal heart rate pattern was indicative of fetal distress and thus required an emergent caesarean section. The defense, however, established to the satisfaction of the jury that it was within good judgment to administer Pitocin to promote cervical dilation and vaginal delivery; and that the fetal heart strips did not exhibit any signs of fetal distress notwithstanding the post-delivery metabolic acidosis of the infant.
The baby was admitted to the NICU, developed multiple medical complications associated with prematurity and sepsis, went into multi-organ failure and died two months after birth. In addition to the claims of conscious pain and suffering and wrongful death as to the infant, the plaintiff was able to submit claims of the mother’s alleged pain and suffering and mental anguish. The jury, however, found no departures from the standard of care. Congratulations to Steve on another great result for the Firm.