Northside Hospital complaint alleges C-section delay before newborn brain injury
The complaint alleges that a pregnant patient was admitted to Northside Hospital with severe pre-eclampsia and signs of fetal distress. An emergency C-section was ordered but the delivery was delayed after multiple attempts to place effective epidural anesthesia. The team failed to timely transition to general anesthesia or otherwise expedite delivery, and the newborn suffered hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and permanent brain injury.
Overview
This page concerns a public complaint alleging that labor-and-delivery providers at Northside Hospital delayed an emergency C-section after severe pre-eclampsia and non-reassuring fetal monitoring.
Chronology
The complaint alleges as follows:
- The mother presented to Northside Hospital in April 2023 with extremely high blood pressure and decreased fetal movement.
- A physician diagnosed pre-eclampsia with severe features and noted a non-reassuring fetal heart-rate tracing at 5:14 a.m.
- An emergency C-section was initiated at 5:30 a.m. because the fetal monitor tracing had not improved.
- Between 5:46 a.m. and 6:12 a.m., anesthesiology providers made multiple attempts to place an effective epidural that allegedly lacked sufficient level for surgery.
- The patient was brought to the operating room at 7:13 a.m.
- The infant was delivered by C-section at 7:31 a.m. and immediately required therapeutic cooling for brain injury.
Alleged failures
The complaint alleges the following failures:
- The obstetrician failed to perform the C-section delivery expeditiously despite the emergency status.
- The anesthesia team failed to timely coordinate effective anesthesia, causing a critical delay in surgical intervention.
- Hospital staff failed to properly monitor the fetal heart rate during the period of delay.
- The defendants failed to communicate effectively about the inability to achieve adequate anesthesia levels.