inflicted through the negligence of these defendants was so severe that the infant plaintiff was forced to remain confined at the defendant hospital for 348 days, al- most a full year.


It was only at that time


that he was discharged to his home with his mother.


Plaintiff’s Expert(s): Stanley Berry, M.D. (OB/GYN) Detroit, MI; David Peisner, M.D. (OB/GYN) Kalamazoo, MI; Harlan Giles, M.D. (OB/GYN) Sewickley, PA; Carol Benson, M.D. (Ul- trasonography) Boston, MA; Marcus Hermansen, M.D. (Neonatology) Leba- non, PA; Edwin Meyer, M.D. (Pediatric Neurology) Richmond, VA; Richard Solomon, M.D. (Developmental Pediat- rics) Ann Arbor, MI; Mona Yudkoff, R.N., M.P.H. (Life Care Planning) Bala Cynwood, PA; Jerome Staller, M.D. (Eco- nomics) Philadelphia, PA


Verdict/Settlement: $1,500,000.00 settle- ment


Plaintiff’s Counsel: Jonathan Schochor (MTLA member) Schochor, Federico & Staton, Baltimore, MD; Philip C. Federico (MTLA member) Schochor, Federico & Staton, Baltimore, MD


________


Anonymous Plaintiffs v. Anonymous Defendant Hospital, et al. Circuit Court for Baltimore City


Facts: On April 9, 1999, the plaintiff pre- sented to the defendant hospital at approximately 2:30 a.m., in labor. By 3:30 a.m., fetal monitoring indicated fe- tal stress.


deepening over time.


standard of care, the defendant failed to perform a cesarean section.


Contrary to the In fact, the


defendants negligently increased Pitocin rather than performing the cesarean sec- tion, thereby creating an even more hostile environment for the unborn child. By 1:40 p.m., the fetal monitoring


strip revealed serious and ominous decel- erations to a level of 90 beats per minute. However, the defendants failed to perform a cesarean section. Additionally, these defendants failed to perform a scalp PH. An increase of Pitocin was ordered at


approximately 4:20 p.m. By 4:40 p.m., decelerations had deepened even more with the heart rate falling to 60 beats per minute for 120 seconds at a time. By 5:25 p.m., the plaintiff was only 6 centimeters dilated. However, these defendants still did not perform a cesarean. By 6:30 p.m., plaintiff had spiked a


fever of 101 degrees. At 7:35 p.m., the temperature increased to 102 degrees. The Pitocin was increased again at 8:00


p.m. The strip continued to deteriorate, showing that the plaintiff’s unborn baby was suffering frank distress. At 9:30 p.m., vacuum extraction was used in an attempt to birth the child vagi- nally. At birth, the child had APGARs of 2 and 4. Fetal tachycardia in the range of 190 through 200 was manifested on the fetal monitoring strip.


The infant child was born severely de- At the time the plaintiff


presented, she was 41-3/7 weeks pregnant, post term. She also had a history of a postdates pregnancy with a previous ce- sarean section for failure to progress. In a postdate pregnancy, the placenta can be aged and incapable of supporting the in- fant plaintiff throughout the stress of a vaginal birth. The defendants also knew of the previous cesarean section and its complications. In any event, the defendants used


Pitocin, a drug which artificially augments and strengthens the contractions of labor and the forces brought to bear on the in- fant. Predictably, the Pitocin caused a strengthening of the contractions such that the plaintiff was over-stimulated with excess force brought to bear on the fetus through the course of the vaginal birth. By 6:50 a.m., the strip showed worsen- ing — loss of beat-to-beat variability and significant decelerations, which were


Summer 2002


pressed due to oxygen deprivation and suffered severe and irreversible brain in- jury as a direct result. At birth, this baby’s PH was only 7.05, with a base deficit of -23. Further, he spiked a white blood count of 17,000 which subsequently increased to 26,000. He required intubation, and was ulti- mately transferred to the defendant hospital where a feeding tube was neces- sary, as the infant child had sustained such severe brain injury that he was unable to ingest food in a natural fashion. The infant child required ongoing home health care provided by the staff of an area pediatric hospital.


child continues to be tube fed, treated with Phenobarbital for seizures and has microcephaly due to the defendant’s neg- ligence.


Verdict/Settlement: $3,500,000.00 settle- ment


Plaintiff ’s Counsel: Jonathan Schochor (MTLA member) Schochor, Federico & Staton, Baltimore, MD; Philip C. Federico (MTLA member) Schochor, Federico & Staton, Baltimore, MD


Trial Reporter


________


Anonymous Plaintiffs v. Anonymous Defendant Physicians, et al. Circuit Court for Prince George’s County


Facts: The plaintiffs’ decedent was a pa- tient at high risk for the development of cervical cancer.


She saw the defendant


Health Care Providers for an examination, which included taking a history of her gynecological history and performance of a pap smear. The pap smear showed ab- normalities which, these defendants failed to accurately interpret. Accurate inter- pretation of the pap smears would have lead to timely performance of a follow- up colposcopy or biopsy. Had such additional testing been done, the patient would have been diagnosed with an early stage cervical cancer, which would have been timely treated and cured. As a re- sult, the early cervical cancer was not diagnosed or treated but rather, was left to grow and spread. Subsequently, another pap smear was obtained, but again was misread as nor- mal when it also showed cervical abnormalities. Again, appropriate testing that would have included colposcopy or biopsy should have been performed, but was not. Once again, the cervical cancer was left to locally grow, extend and ulti- mately metastasize. The following year, the patient re- turned to her health care providers for an additional pap smear which was accu- rately read.


Finally, at this time, the


patient was tested and ultimately found to have an infiltrating cervical cancer in its later stages.


Allegations of Liability: The Plaintiffs contend that had the cancer been diag- nosed sooner, the patient would have been timely and appropriately treated. Because she was not, the patient’s disease had spread significantly, causing her to face a terminal prognosis.


She subsequently The infant


died from the metastatic effects of her cancer.


Plaintiff ’s Expert(s): Edward Cibas, M.D. (Cytopathology) Boston, MA; Mark H. Stoler (Cytopathology) Charlottesville, VA; Jamie Covell, CT (Cytotechnology) Charlottesville, VA; Joel Palmer, M.D. (GYN Oncology) Potomac; Stephen Rosenoff, M.D. (Oncology) Roanoke, VA; Kenneth Sacks, M.D. (On- cology) Bridgeport, CT; Jerome Staller, M.D. (Economics) Philadelphia, PA


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