Emory University Hospital Midtown complaint alleges a mismanaged induction before a newborn’s brain injury
The complaint alleges that physicians and nurses at Emory University Hospital Midtown mismanaged an induced labor and delayed a cesarean delivery. Pitocin was started, stopped, and restarted over more than 23 hours while the fetal heart tracing repeatedly showed late decelerations and minimal variability. At 11:00 p.m. the day after admission, Dr. Stacia Crochet found a Category II tracing and inadequate contractions after Pitocin had been stopped. Despite slow progress, she offered the mother “another couple hours” to see if labor continued to change. The newborn was born early the next morning, with Apgar scores of 1, 1, 5, and 7. She was later diagnosed with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and required ECMO life support at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta - Egleston Hospital.
Overview
This page concerns a public complaint alleging that Emory University Hospital Midtown providers mismanaged an induced labor before a newborn’s hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.
Chronology
The complaint alleges as follows:
- The mother was admitted to Emory University Hospital Midtown in March 2017 for induction of labor at 40 weeks and 5 days of gestation.
- Nurses and physicians started, stopped, and restarted Pitocin over more than 23 hours while the fetal monitor repeatedly showed late decelerations and minimal variability.
- At 11:00 p.m. the next day, Dr. Crochet found 8 cm dilation, a Category II strip, and inadequate contractions. She offered “another couple hours” to see if labor continued to change.
- Early the next morning, Dr. Crochet re-evaluated a Category II strip with recurrent late decelerations and planned to continue toward a vaginal delivery.
- The newborn was born at 3:02 a.m., with Apgar scores of 1, 1, 5, and 7.
- She had five minutes of audible bradycardia during delivery and showed no respiratory effort or muscle tone at birth.
- NICU staff diagnosed hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Repeated oxygen-desaturation crises led to her transfer to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta - Egleston Hospital, where she was placed on ECMO life support.
Alleged failures
The complaint alleges the following failures:
- Physicians and nurses did not timely recognize or manage the fetal heart tracing’s recurrent late decelerations and minimal variability.
- The nursing and physician staff did not timely decrease or discontinue Pitocin despite a non-reassuring tracing, and restarted it several times.
- Dr. Crochet did not call for a stat cesarean section during a late deceleration that took about 45 minutes to regain variability.
- The providers did not perform a cesarean several hours earlier despite observable abnormalities. The mother was 5 days post-term, had an unproven pelvis, and had gained more than 50 pounds.
- Emory Healthcare, Emory Clinic, and Emory University did not adequately hire, train, or supervise the clinicians who treated the mother and newborn.
- The complaint pleads medical malpractice against all defendants and ordinary negligence against the Emory entities, and attaches an expert affidavit under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1.