Brooklyn

Published on: April 12, 2012

Plaintiff had made appointments to an abortion clinic at 1995 Broadway.

by Stephen Bilkis

Plaintiff had made appointments to an abortionclinic at 1995 Broadway. Upon arriving thereat, she was asked to complete some forms, pay the appropriate fees and subject to a urine and blood test. She was then directed into another room where she changed into a paper gown and was brought into an operating room. Her blood pressure was then allegedly taken and the doctor who would perform the abortion came in and introduced himself. The doctor then explained the procedure and performed such procedure, thereafter. After the procedure, the doctor went into the recovery room, took the plaintiffs blood pressure and asked how she felt. Nothing was mentioned at the time about returning to the clinic, neither did he discuss anything about any follow-up visits with her. However, he told her that she might experience some cramps and that if they became severe or painful not to take aspirin but Tylenol. Just before plaintiff left, a nurse gave her a “Rogam” shot telling her they were giving it to her because she was RH negative. The charge for the shot was extra, $20 or $25. After plaintiff paid and was getting ready to leave, the nurse in the reception area told her to call and make an appointment for two weeks later for a follow-up visit but did not offer to make the appointment at that time.

Days after the abortion, plaintiff called and made an appointment or a follow-up visit two Saturdays from the date on which she had the procedure done (i.e. for January 23). However, the second week after the abortion she experienced cramps and took Tylenol.

On 16 January 1982, the abortion clinic received a pathology report which suggested the possibility that she was still pregnant. A notation on the pathology report indicated that the plaintiff had been called about the results and told to return to the center for a follow-up; however, plaintiff testified that she never received any such call. In fact, she rescheduled her 23 January 1982 appointment for the following Saturday because a snowstorm had been predicted for the 23rd.

Published on: April 4, 2012

On 23 January 1985, plaintiff was born by caesarean section

by Stephen Bilkis

On 23 January 1985, plaintiff was born by caesarean section at North Central Bronx Hospital, an affiliate hospital of defendant HHC. The infant plaintiff’s parents are citizens of Guyana and the mother has had intermittent residence in the Bronx. Apparently, the caesarean section was necessitated by fetal distress arising from the umbilical cord being wrapped around his neck. Upon delivery, there was evidence of meconium and he received low Apgar scores. Hospital records indicate that he had suffered birth injuries such as birth asphyxia, meconium respiration and additional ailments (birth injury accidents). Plaintiff was discharged on 28 January 1985. Discharge memoranda indicate follow-up appointments and a referral to the Visiting Nursing Services. There is some evidence that the mother was provided with a set of appointment papers for a follow-up clinic appointment, but the mother states that she received no instructions after discharge. She recalls that a nurse visited once a week for six weeks, but she is not sure what the visits were for. Apparently she was given an appointment for a follow-up examination at the Kennedy Center, but she did not keep her appointment. The mother returned to Guyana with plaintiff in March 1985. There, she took him to a clinic for a six-week checkup, but otherwise sought no medical examinations.

At some point, she received a letter from North Central Bronx Hospital advising her that plaintiff should have a blood test. As a result, she returned with plaintiff to a Bronx clinic in September 1985. She did not recall the reason for the blood test, but recalled that the outcome was “OK.” Plaintiff notes that the clinic’s lab slip referencing the18 September 1985 blood test identified North Central Bronx as his hospital. Defendant argues that the clinic was not at North Central Bronx, though plaintiff tries to connect the two entities by noting that the clinic identified plaintiff by use of plaintiff’s North Central Bronx chart number. In any event, the mother subsequently took plaintiff back to Guyana. While in Guyana, the mother took him to a clinic to get vaccinations, and occasionally for colds, and at one point a doctor there indicated that plaintiff had a damaged hand, but no further treatment was ever given, and no further references were made.

Around 1986, plaintiff’s mother began to notice that plaintiff had difficulties with his left hand and arm, that he could not hold things and had general clumsiness when trying to hold things. She also observed at some point that he had difficulty with his left leg. She did not have this treated in Guyana; instead, she returned to the United States. Upon her request, she was scheduled for an appointment at North Central Bronx Hospital’s Well Baby Clinic on 12 August 1987. This was some 2½ years after plaintiff was discharged following his birth. In the interim, the mother had had no interaction with defendant hospital as to the medical conditions relating to the child’s birth. During that appointment, several diagnostic evaluations were made in connection with probable cerebral palsy, and a pediatric rehabilitation consultation was requested. The mother was scheduled for a 13 November 1987 appointment, and then a 29 January 1988 appointment, but she failed to appear at either appointment. She and plaintiff also failed to appear for a scheduled 7 October 1987 appointment for a rehabilitation and speech language pathology consultation. On 10 November 1987, she and plaintiff also failed to appear for a clinic appointment. She subsequently explained that during this time period, she had returned to Guyana where plaintiff was seen by a doctor who indicated that plaintiff had a damaged hand.

Published on: April 1, 2012

A personal injury action was commenced by plaintiff-mother

by Stephen Bilkis

A personal injury action was commenced by plaintiff-mother. It was alleged that when she was 12 days pregnant she was injured when a police vehicle backed up and hit her as she was crossing a street and that she sustained a stress fracture of her right tibia as a result of the accident, and that the trauma and stress of the accident caused her to experience pregnancy complications resulting in an emergency cesarean section at 27 weeks.

Has the stress from the accident induce a placental abruption that would make the defendant liable?

A report from the pathologist who examined the post-delivery placenta and blood specimens indicated that an infection was the cause of the infant plaintiff’s premature delivery. Moreover, plaintiff-mother’s history of preexisting gynecological issues established prima facie that the infant’s premature birth was not due to placental abruption because of trauma from the accident (birth injury or birth injuryaccident).

Published on: March 27, 2012

More than fifty years ago, the drug, diethylstilbestrol (DES), was invented

by Stephen Bilkis

More than fifty years ago, the drug, diethylstilbestrol (DES), was invented and had been dispensed to women in the United States from 1941 to 1971. In 1947, the Federal Drug Administration approved the drug for treatment of complications relating to pregnancy. In 1971, its use was banned due to the link between its use and the later development of cancer in female offspring (defective product).

In the present case, it is alleged that a woman (mother of Plaintiff One and grandmother of Plaintiff Two) ingested DES “within the years 1959 and 1960”. She gave birth to Plaintiff One on 29 January 1960. Plaintiff-One gave birth to Plaintiff Two on 9 August 1981. It is alleged that Plaintiff One sustained a (birth injury) malformed uterus, cervical and uterine dysfunction and squamous metaplasia as a consequence of her mother’s ingestion of DES. As a result of those injuries, it is alleged that Plaintiff-Two was born prematurely and suffered cerebral palsy (brain injury), gran mal seizures and various related congenital defects (spinal injury). In addition, it is alleged that Plaintiff One suffered four spontaneous abortions before and after the birth of Plaintiff Two.

The exact dates of ingestion of DES by the mother of Plaintiff One, the names of the dispensing pharmacy and pharmacist, the prescription, the instructions for ingestion and the manufacturer of the drug ingested are all ‘unknown’ to Plaintiffs.

Published on: March 17, 2012

Boy Receives £4.6 Million for Birth Injury

by Stephen Bilkis

After mistakes made by the medical professionals attending his birth, a child left seriously injured has been awarded £4.6 million in compensation, a hospital reports.

Born at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn in June of 2004, the boy suffered severe injuries at the hands of his mother’s birthing medical personnel. A nurse says that during the delivery, medical staffers misread the boy’s mother’s heartbeat for his, and because to this, they did not notice that he had an abnormal heartbeat. This misunderstanding led to delays in his delivery. The delay resulted in the fetus’s heart beat stopping. Suffering oxygen starvation to the brain, led to serious brain injury.

The plaintiff’s lawyers expertly argued that had his birth been just ten minutes sooner, he would have escaped injury. But now, he suffers from cerebral palsy, learning difficulties, and is wheelchair dependent. He will suffer with these ailments and dependencies the rest of his life. The responsibility for failing to read the measurements properly lied solely with the personnel, doctors and nurses.

Published on: February 17, 2012

After a Birth Injury, Softball Player Rocks the Diamond

by Stephen Bilkis

The valedictorian and softball player from Keenan High School is anything but an average teen. She stands out, not for those feats, but because those feats are so astronomical given her history.

Routine grounders are anything but routine for these high school senior, reports a friend who’s watched her story.

A teammate says, “My first year playing with [the girl], it was kind of different.”

Published on: February 13, 2012

Brachial Plexus Injury Treatments

by Stephen Bilkis

In ninety percent of birth injuries involving the brachial plexus, the injury will heal within a few days to six months. The rest do not ever heal.

A concerned mother of an injured baby reports their frustration and desperation. “We were willing to go anywhere, to do anything. But, we didn’t know what to do” following the birth of her son David. Their quest eventually led them to a pediatric physical therapist familiar with the Children’s Hospital Brachial Plexus Clinic, which had opened about five years previously. The clinic is one of a handful of treatment centers in the United States that treats 100 to 125 patients a year with this particular injury.

The chief doctor and clinic founder reports that “Although brachial plexus injuries can occur in accidents or from a breech birth, most are due to shoulder dystocia delivery.” At this particular facility, doctors perform brachial plexus surgery on children as young as 6 to 9 months. They are able to remove scars and add nerve grafts.

Published on: January 15, 2012

Topamax Related to Oral Cleft Birth Defects

by Stephen Bilkis

The anti-epileptic medication Topamax may be related to oral cleft birth defects. Pregnant women and their doctors now face an even more difficult choice when deciding on an epilepsy drug since the information leaked that many of these anti-epileptics have shown to have a correlation with birth injuries and severe defects.

If you have been prescribed Topamax during pregnancy, a consultation with a trusted medial professional is imperatively urgent. Topamax birth defects are of particular concern because most facial and oral malformations, especially cleft palate and cleft lip, take place during the first trimester of pregnancy, and at this point, some women may not even be aware that they are pregnant, thus exposing their fetus to potential harm.

A prominent doctor insists that all sexually active women within child-bearing years using Topamax should be well informed about the possible consequences of the drug to a pregnancy before they are prescribed the drug.

Published on: January 10, 2012

Birth Injury Settlement of $21 Million

by Stephen Bilkis

A Pennsylvania Medical Center was found negligent in the case of a birth injury lawsuit recently. The resulting settlement was a record breaking $21 million. Jurors found the doctors and staff responsible for the injuries sustained during the delivery process of the plaintiff’s son which resulted in his catastrophic birth injury.

The plaintiff shared her testimony of what should have been one of the happiest memories of her life during the hearing. She told of her arrival at the medical center and of being prepped for child birth. She said that routine procedures were not handled properly. She stated to a friend that had the staff monitored the baby’s heart rates and vital signs properly, they would have seen that the baby was lacking oxygen and thus moving into breach position which necessitated an emergency cesarean section surgery. Even though the surgery was flawless, the mother maintained that the negligence of the staff resulted in her baby developing cerebral palsy. Had the staff been aware of the situation, the surgery would have happened quicker – within the time frame necessary to probably prevent the condition her son now has to live with for the rest of his life.

Cerebral palsy involves brain and nervous system functions such as movement, learning, hearing, seeing and thinking and is usually caused by injuries or abnormalities of the brain and in some cases by hypoxia (damaging of the brain during periods of low levels of oxygen.)

Published on: December 27, 2011

Program to Cut Obstetric Complications

by Stephen Bilkis

A new comprehensive safety initiative appears to reduce the rate of adverse obstetric outcomes in large, tertiary medical centers. The program’s developers aimed at improving communication, labor and delivery negligence, revamping escalation policies, setting upgraded protocols, and standardizing interpretation of fetal heart rate tracing. Brain injury is a very common problem and one they are trying to overcome.

The program was aimed at improving specific areas identified in an internal review. These areas revolved around poor communication between providers – nursing staff, triage staff, operating room staff, doctors, surgeons, etc. It also involved recreating an inadequate escalation policy and implementing protocols to alleviate the strain of a lack of standards. The program also aimed at providing a standardization of interpretation of fetal heart rate tracing.

Within the first year of the program, the combined rate of adverse outcomes dropped from 1.95% to 0.8%, and settled at about 0.9% through the second year, according to a study researching the program. In two of the individual outcomes specifically looked at — returns to the operating room and birth trauma — there were significant declines with no increases during the study period.