Medical Negligence

In Delivering Mom v. Obstetric Hospital (California State Court, court and case number confidential), Michael A. Kelly and Melinda Derish represented a 38-year-old woman who sustained a major brain hemorrhage due to untreated preeclampsia (high blood pressure). The client was admitted to the hospital for induction of labor with Pitocin. During the last three hours of labor the nurses stopped measuring her blood pressure. Suddenly the patient developed signs of a stroke. A CT scan revealed an acute hypertensive brain hemorrhage. All nurses and doctors claimed the brain hemorrhage was not preventable. During depositions Melinda developed evidence that each defendant contributed to a systematic breakdown of communication between the obstetric team members. The obstetrician’s orders required the nurses to notify him for any systolic blood pressure greater than 140, but when the patient’s blood pressure spiked above 140, none of the nurses notified the obstetrician. The Hospital’s policies required the nurses to measure the blood pressure every 15 minutes during the induction of labor, but the nurses ceased measuring the blood pressure because the patient had become uncomfortable wearing the blood pressure cuff. The case settled after the completion of fact discovery for $5,500,000.