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Hospital Settles Malpractice Suit: Attorneys Argue Baby Born With Brain Damage, Cerebral Palsy Because Doctors Neglected Risk of Complications

Posted on: Friday, 16 June 2006, 09:01 CDT

By Sandy Kleffman, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

Jun. 16--Contra Costa Regional Medical Center has agreed to pay $2.4 million to settle a medical malpractice lawsuit over a baby born with serious brain damage and cerebral palsy.

The settlement includes nearly $2.15 million to purchase a lifetime annuity for Morgan Lee, who was delivered by Caesarean section at the county-owned hospital in Martinez on July 27, 2004.

If Morgan lives a normal life span, the annuity will provide payments totaling nearly $18 million.

His mother, then-17-year-old Richmond resident Donna Lee, will receive $250,000.

Walnut Creek attorneys Stan Casper and Larry Cook argued that hospital officials failed to provide appropriate care, despite knowing that Lee was at risk to develop complications because she was diabetic and had high blood pressure.

Hospital officials maintain they provided quality care, but they say county supervisors decided to settle mid-trial to avoid further legal costs and the possibility of a larger judgment.

"There was debate about the cause of the baby's brain injury," said Dr. Jeffrey Smith, the hospital executive director. "It was a prudent decision to settle it compared to the risk of losing in court."

On July 23, 2004, Lee saw her doctor at the Richmond Health Clinic and her blood pressure was "sky-high," Casper said. The doctor sent her to Contra Costa Regional Medical Center to be induced into labor.

High blood pressure can jeopardize the fetus by compromising blood flow to the placenta, Casper said.

It can also lead to preeclampsia, a type of high blood pressure that develops during pregnancy and which can stress the fetus, he added.

But four days after she was admitted to the hospital, Lee had not given birth even though she was receiving pitocin, medication to increase the rate of contractions.

"She was really failing to progress in her labor, so they have to be additionally concerned by now," Casper said.

On July 27, a fetal heart monitoring test showed abnormal results and raised questions about whether the baby was getting enough oxygen, Casper said.

Three other tests done shortly before 11 a.m. -- in which a vibrating box was pressed to the mother's abdomen to prompt a response from the baby such as a more rapid heart beat -- showed no reaction, another troubling sign, he added.

At that point, a doctor called for a C-section, but it was postponed while they gave the mother Narcan, a medication designed to reduce the effect of opiates, Casper said. Medical experts contacted by his firm said they were baffled by this decision.

"It wasted precious time," Casper said.

Two and a half hours later, at 1:34 p.m., a C-section was performed about 10 minutes after a test showed the baby was in serious trouble, Casper said.

"You could see that the baby had totally declined -- a heart rate way, way depressed and insufficient to properly oxygenate the baby's brain," he said.

Lee was born with damage to cells in his central nervous system. Today, he is quadriplegic, cannot sit up and gives no indication he can see.

"He can do nothing that you would expect a normal 2-year-old to do," Casper said. "His prognosis is very, very grim in terms of him ever getting any better."

Casper faults the hospital for not consulting with a perinatalogist who specializes in high-risk cases, even though the county has a contract to obtain such services.

Casper also said his experts maintain that if Lee had received a C-section at 11 a.m., the baby might have been born without serious brain damage.

Hospital officials counter that they had their own experts who would defend the quality of care provided and dispute the reasons for the brain damage.

They had an expert ready to testify that the brain damage was caused by an infection in the placenta that Lee developed before she was admitted to the hospital, Smith said.

"The question then becomes who does the jury or judge believe?" Smith said. "I think we had a good case. The county's stance has been that we took appropriate care of this woman."

The bulk of the money for the settlement will come from a secondary insurance program the county has through the California State Association of Counties, Smith said.

Reach Sandy Kleffman at 925-943-8249 or skleffman@cctimes.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)

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