A radiologist who simply failed to communicate the results of crucial sonogram findings to a physician allowed this woman's doctor to perform a highly dangerous vaginal delivery that caused this infants spine to be transected. Tragically, this child is a spastic quadriplegic and severely brain damaged.
The sonogram, performed late in this woman's pregnancy, had revealed that the woman's fetus was in a breech position and also indicated that the fetus' spine and neck were hyperextended. This put the baby at extremely high risk for spinal cord injury if subjected to a vaginal delivery. However, the radiologist who performed the sonogram never communicated these findings to any physician; instead, these crucial sonogram findings were transmitted to a nurse. Unaware of the sonogram findings and not knowing that a vaginal delivery was contraindicated, the woman's doctor delivered the baby vaginally the next day. In doing so, she improperly attempted to extract the baby by flexing and rotating his head, thereby inflicting a devastating mechanical injury: a near complete transection of the infant's spinal cord. The baby also suffered severe oxygen deprivation during this dangerous vaginal delivery, due to its breech position and the delay in accomplishing delivery of the head.
With his numerous severe birth injuries, the infant has required custodial and medical care since his birth, and currently resides in a residential facility where he requires oxygen therapy and a feeding tube. We secured a settlement for this family of $11,825,000.
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