Onstad Blog

DAMAGE CLAIM FOR CEREBRAL PALSY

Jun 6

Written by: Rock Onstad
6/6/2011 2:38 PM 

 

            17% to 24% of cases of cerebral palsy can be related to intrapartum asphyxia (a hypoxic-ischemic insult to an unborn baby’s brain during the labor process). The occurrence of a hypoxic-ischemic insult can usually be detected by fetal heart monitoring. In most hospital labor & delivery services, there are nurses who are trained to use fetal heart monitoring to determine whether or not the fetus is well oxygenated and healthy and to respond when the fetal heart monitor shows the baby suffering from inadequate oxygen. Fetal heart monitoring terminology for a healthy well oxygenated fetus is “reassuring fetal heart patterns,” and for a fetus that is in fetal distress from lack of oxygenation is “non-reassuring fetal heart patterns.”
 
            A critically important fact will be the presence of a fetal heart rate pattern at the beginning of labor that is “reassuring.” A reassuring pattern will have good variability and periodic accelerations. The “reassuring” pattern is a good sign that the fetus has not suffered brain damage prior to the beginning of the labor process, that its brain is intact, and that its heart rate is being modulated by an intact and undamaged brain. If there is absent variability at the beginning of the labor process, that is sign that the baby’s brain has been damaged by events prior to the beginning of the labor process.
 
            If a fetal heart rate pattern changes from reassuring to non-reassuring, the labor nurse who is monitoring the laboring mother will be required to immediately recognize the non-reassuring pattern and respond. Timely recognition and proper response are critical to preventing a hypoxic-ischemic insult from damaging the baby’s brain. Most often, nursing intervention (repositioning the mother and giving the mother oxygen) will cure what is causing the fetal heart pattern from becoming non-reassuring. If such nursing intervention does not promptly restore a reassuring fetal heart pattern, the obstetrician must be immediately notified, and plans for an emergency C-section should begin. In most hospitals, an emergency C-section can accomplished within 15 minutes of the call for a C-section being made.
 
            When a fetal heart pattern becomes non-reassuring and nursing intervention does not restore the reassuring pattern, time is of the essence to deliver the baby. Each passing minute that goes by with the non-reassuring pattern continuing is potentially contributes worsening damage to the baby’s brain. The more damage that is done, the more severe the cerebral palsy will likely be.
 
            The nature of the event that is causing the non-reassuring pattern, its severity, and the time it goes on, all work together to determine how many minutes the fetus can go on without being delivered before its brain suffers damage.
 
            The typical events that can occur suddenly and without warning that cause a reassuring pattern to become non-reassuring are a prolapsed umbilical cord, an umbilical cord around the baby’s neck, the placenta detaching from the uterus (placenta abruptia), and a rupture of the uterus. All of those events compromise blood flow from the mother to the fetus, which in turn compromises the baby’s oxygen status.
 
            If the baby’s oxygen status is compromised and such compromise goes on for too long, the baby’s brain will be damaged. The amount of compromise will vary depending on the severity of the condition that compromises the fetal blood supply.
 
            At birth, a myriad of factors will give a picture of the severity of the compromise of the baby’s blood supply and oxygen supply. Those factors are Apgar scores, umbilical cord arterial blood gases, MRI imaging of the baby’s brain, and the occurrence of the neonatal neurological syndrome. In a series of forthcoming blogs, I will explore all of the evidentiary factors that support a meritorious case for the baby and those that the negligent healthcare providers will rely on to defeat the baby’s case.
  

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VERDICTS AND SETTLEMENTS in which Rockne W. Onstad was Lead Counsel or Co-Counsel

    Gross Amount  Client Recovery        Attorney Fee           Expenses Nature
$13,650,000 $8,055,000 $5,460,000 $135,000 Product Liability, Military Helicopter Gear Box, Spinal Injuries (settlement)
$9,200,000 $6,320,064 $2,760,000 $119,358 Product Liability, Aircraft Carburetor, Wrongful Death (settlement)
$6,800,000 $4,473,334 $2,266,666 $60,000 Premises Liability, Brain Injury, Water Park Slide (settlement)
$4,980,000 $2,437,000 $2,490,000 $53,000 Labor & Delivery Negligence, Fetal Distress, Cerebral Palsy (settlement)
$4,300,000 $309,000 $138,000 $13,000 Pilot Negligence, Airplane Crash, Wrongful Death (jury verdict)
$3,850,000 $2,373,000 $1,425,000 $52,000 Labor & Delivery Negligence, Fetal Distress, Cerebral Palsy (settlement)
$3,500,000 $2,028,000 $1,400,000 $72,000 Product Liability, Defective Pick-Up, Spinal Cord Injury (settlement)
$3,235,000 $2,361,250 $808,750 $65,000 Brain Injury, Federal Tort Claim, FAA Negligence (verdict) affirmed on appeal
$3,000,000 $1,724,000 $1,200,000 $76,000 Neurosurgeon Malpractice, Cauda Equina Syndrome (settlement)
$2,950,000 $1,731,000 $1,180,000 $39,000 Defective Design of Helicopter, Paralysis & Wrongful Death (settlement)
$2,900,000 $844,000 $694,000 $26,000 Auto Accident, Spinal Injury & Ankle Injury (jury verdict/settlement)
$2,800,000 $1,864,667 $924,333 $12,000 Premises Liability, Hotel Fire, Wrongful Death (settlement)
$2,500,000 $1,644,667 $833,333 $22,000 Product Liablity, Defective Farm Tractor, Arm Loss (settlement)
$2,300,000 $1,399,000 $960,000 $41,000 Medical Malpractice, Anesthesia, Brain Injury (settlement)
$2,300,000 $1,091,000 $920,000 $59,000 Product Liability, All Terrain Vehicle, Spinal Cord Injury (settlement)
$2,200,000 $1,321,000 $733,333 $44,000 Cerebral Palsy, Medical Malpractice, Preeclampsia (settlement)
$2,200,000 $1,267,000 $880,000 $53,000 Construction Negligence & Insurance Bad Faith, Spinal Injury(settlement)
$2,200,000 $1,191,000 $880,000 $129,000 Product liability, subdural hematoma
$2,100,000 $1,462,334 $557,666 $80,000 Hospital Labor Nurse Negligence, Fetal Distress, Cerebral Palsy (settlement)
$2,000,000 $1,303,334 $666,666 $30,000 Anesthesia Malpractice, Esophageal Intubation, Wrongful Death (settlement)
$2,000,000 $1,106,887 $800,000 $93,111 Radiologist Malpractice, Brain Catheterization, Brain Injury (settlement)
$2,000,000 $976,484 $976,482 $47,034 Obstetrician Malpractice, Forceps Delivery, Brain Injury (settlement)
$2,000,000 $972,331 $972,669 $55,000 Obstetrical Malpractice, IUGR, Cerebral Palsy (settlement)
$1,900,000 $905,000 $950,000 $45,000 Clinic Failure to Supervise Impaired Physician, 4 Injured (settlement)
$1,900,000 $73,000 Pilot Error, Helicopter Crash, Wrongful Death (jury verdict-no insurance coverage)
$1,860,000 $978,518 $645,000 $137,480 Neurosurgeon Malpractice, Infection, Cauda Equina Syndrome (settlement)
$1,700,000 $1,130,730 $565,363 $3,907 Product Liability, Defective Refueling Coupling, Burns (settlement)
$1,500,000 $847,000 $600,000 $53,000 Defective Aircraft Component, Military Aircraft, Wrongful Death (settlement)
$1,425,000 $900,310 $457,571 $67,119 Intraoperative Spinal Cord Monitoring Negligence, Spinal Cord Injury (settlement)
$1,400,000 $848,221 $503,552 $51,227 Obstetrician Malpractice, Group B Strep Infection, Cerebral Palsy (settlement)
$1,400,000 $718,689 $560,000 $130,522 Neurosurgeon Malpractice, Infection, Brain Injury (jury trial & settlement)
$1,400,000 $818,000 $560,000 $22,000 Auto Trucking Accident, Spinal Injury (settlement)
$1,300,000 $718,689 $520,000 $26,000 Hospital Newborn Nursing Negligence, Visual Impairment (settlement)
$1,300,000 $285,000 $250,000 $33,189 Emergency Room Malpractice, Wrongful Death (jury verdict and settlement))
$1,237,000 $718,689 $400,000 $30,000 Cardiologist Malpractice, Brain Injury (settlement)
$1,200,000 $659,879 $395,666 $144,455 Prolapsed umbilical cord, Hospital Obstetrics Negligence
$1,167,000 $594,086 $417,000 $72,513 Emergency Room Negligence, Heart Attack, Wrongful Death (settlement)
$1,150,000 $727,667 $383,333 $39,000 Obstetrician Malpractice, Group B Strep, Cerebral Palsy (settlement)
$1,111,000 $594,933 $444,400 $71,623 Product Liability, Heart Stent, Heart Damage (settlement)
$1,100,000 $770,000 $440,000 $25,996 Radiologist Malpractice, Failure to Diagnose Breast Cancer, Death (settlement)
$1,060,000 $532,715 $478,991 $48,810 Obstetrician Negligence, Breech Delivery, Cerebral Palsy (settlement)
$1,000,000 $630,000 $333,000 $36,000 Defective Military Aircraft, Manufacturing Defect, Wrongful Death (settlement)
$1,000,000 $566,116 $400,000 $33,884 Surgeon Malpractice, Bile Duct Injury, Wrongful Death (settlement)
$1,000,000 $477,500 $477,500 $45,000 Surgeon Malpractice, Bariatric Surgery, Wrongful Death (settlement)
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