ClickCease Kaiser birth injury information and cases - The Walkup Firm

Kaiser Permanente Birth Injury Information and Cases

Children who have sustained birth injuries during delivery at Kaiser, or through the actions of Kaiser Permanente physicians, require representation by lawyers familiar with Kaiser obstetrical negligence. Since mandatory Kaiser arbitration was begun, the attorneys at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger have recovered millions of dollars on behalf of injured Kaiser members whose infants have sustained injury during and following birth as a result of obstetrical negligence and improper neonatal care. Such cases have involved cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, infants who have developed life-threatening infections (including group B-strep) during the delivery process, and neonates with congenital and metabolic disorders which were not timely diagnosed.

Talk To A Kaiser Birth Injury Attorney Now

If you have suffered a severe injury or medical negligence at Kaiser Permanente, Walkup Melodia can help you. Please contact us online or call now 415-906-3764 for an immediate consultation with a hospital malpractice lawyer to help you with Kaiser arbitration.

Raising a child with a birth injury takes a heavy toll on any family. The birth injury legal team at Walkup, Melodia, has worked with families of severely disabled children for many years. We understand their problems, and respect the many sacrifices such families must make in order to guarantee that their children, regardless of disability, have every opportunity for a rich, full life.

The Walkup team of birth injury lawyers makes every effort to assure that any disabled child’s needs are met for his or her entire life. We work with specialists in life care planning and structured settlements to try to shape case resolution in such a way that both the injured child and the supporting family members feel secure when a case concludes.


BIRTH INJURY CASES & RESULTS

Failure to Perform Timely Cesarian Section – Cerebral Palsy

In a case involving cerebral palsy, our attorneys obtained a binding arbitration award following a two week arbitration, having a present cash value of $4,100,000 on behalf of a 3-year-old boy afflicted with multiple neurological injuries as a result of negligent delivery at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Redwood City. Attorneys from Walkup, Melodia were able to prove that the infant endured a period of oxygen deprivation during his birth when his mother’s uterus ruptured. The uterine rupture was due to an attending midwife’s failure to properly manage the mother while in labor. Walkup attorneys also proved that obstetrical nurses left the mother unattended prior to the rupture of her uterus, and for that reason failed to appreciate ominous signs of the baby’s distress as reported on a fetal heart monitor. Prior to the first day of arbitration, Kaiser had made no settlement offer.

Failure to Recognize Fetal Distress – Quadriplegia/Brain Damage.

Walkup attorneys negotiated a cash and annuity settlement with a present cash value in excess of five million dollars on behalf of an infant born with severe developmental delay, spastic quadriparesis, and permanent neurological injuries after Kaiser San Francisco doctors and nursing staff failed to monitor the mother and deliver the baby quickly when fetal heart monitors indicated severe distress. The 36-year-old mother’s pregnancy and delivery seemed to be progressing normally when, 8 hours after being admitted to the hospital, she developed a high fever. The doctor on call administered antibiotics for suspected chorioamnionitis, (an inflammation of the amniotic membranes), and said he would check back in an hour. Nearly three hours later, the fetal heart rate monitors indicated that the baby’s heart rate had dropped to 85 and 90, and remained there for about 10 minutes, prompting a frightened nurse to contact the doctor. Deceleration of the fetal heart rate is a common effect of chorioamnionitis. The infant was born a half hour later, by emergent vacuum extraction, with no heart rate, and appearing blue, floppy, and apneic. She was resuscitated through chest compressions and intubation. In the days following her birth, the infant exhibited general seizures with tremors in the lower and upper extremities. An MRI performed 8 days after her birth revealed that the infant had severe hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. The child will remain fully dependant for all of her care needs for her entire life. She is not expected to develop beyond the level of a one month old infant. Liability was based upon failure to aggressively monitor the mother and fetus post administration of antibiotics and failure to deliver the baby when infection was first suspected.

Delayed Admittance to Hospital – Cerebral Palsy

The Walkup team obtained a mediated settlement, one day before the commencement of arbitration, on behalf of a child who suffered profound injuries when her mother’s uterus ruptured at the site of a previous myomectomy (surgery to remove a fibroid in the uterine wall).

Two weeks prior to the baby’s emergent delivery, the child’s mother was hospitalized in pre-term labor at Kaiser San Francisco. After being medicated and released, she was advised to observe strict bed rest and communicate with Kaiser’s Pre-Term Birth Prevention Project. At 10:00 p.m. the evening before delivery, the parents called the maternity department to report painful contractions. Without determining the onset, frequency, characteristics or location of the pain suffered by the mother, an on-duty advice nurse advised the mother to take an additional dose of her anti-contraction medication and call if her condition worsened. Eight hours later, the mother awoke in severe pain. Her husband called 911. She was taken to a local hospital where the child was delivered by emergency C-section at 32 weeks gestation.

Claimants contended that Kaiser’s employees were negligent in failing to order the mother to the hospital at the time of the phone call. The child was diagnosed with periventricular leukomalacia, and later developed infantile spasms and cerebral palsy. The settlement was composed of both an initial cash payment and guaranteed future annuity payments to offset the cost of future medical, therapy, laboratory and attendant care.

Failure to Recognize Neonatal Hypoglycemia – Loss of Pancreas/Neurological Injury

Walkup attorneys obtained a mediated settlement of $2,250,000 on behalf of a male infant who now suffers from blindness, developmental delay and cognitive deficits, and who also had his pancreas removed, after nursing staff at Kaiser Sacramento failed to follow proper protocols when the infant showed signs of hypoglycemia.

The infant was born weighing 10 pounds, 7-1/2 ounces, which should have triggered a nursing protocol requiring blood screening tests at one, two, four, six and eight hours of age. Any tests revealing low blood sugar levels required that a blood sample be drawn and sent for analysis. In this case, the infant’s six-hour test was conducted at seven hours of age, and came back showing low blood sugar. However, the protocol requiring that blood be drawn and sent to the lab was not followed. The infant’s parents were never told of the abnormal result or warned to look for signs of hypoglycemia. At 24 hours of age, the infant and his parents were discharged. On the second morning at home, his mother had a hard time rousing him, and he presented at Urgent Care lethargic, not nursing, and with purple feet. He then suffered several seizures and was admitted to the hospital. Tests revealed that he had nesidioblastosis, a disease of the pancreas, resulting in profound, unremitting hypoglycemia. An MRI revealed evidence of posterior cerebral artery infarction, consistent with the diagnosis of severe hypoglycemia. Ultimately, nearly all of the infant’s pancreas had to be removed. As a result of his cerebral injury, he was left blind, with developmental delay and cognitive deficiencies. Walkup attorneys retained experts to show that failure to follow the established nursing protocol led to failure to appropriately diagnose and treat the infant’s hypoglycemia, which led to the infant’s cerebral injuries. The settlement in this case was structured to pay monthly guaranteed payments, plus $732,000 to be paid into a trust on the infant’s behalf.