A 29-year-old woman who was pregnant with her first child was having an unremarkable labor and delivery until she suddenly had a drop in her blood pressure to 65/28 and a pulse in the 50s…medicalmalpracticelawyers, $11M Rhode Island Medical Malpractice Settlement For Baby Who Suffered Brain Damage After Mother Suffered Cardiac Arrest During Labor
It was determined later that the woman had an amniotic fluid embolism that caused her cardiac arrest. The woman was initially resuscitated but later determined to be brain dead. She was removed from life support two weeks later and died shortly thereafter.
The baby was delivered at 6:20 p.m. It was later determined that the baby had suffered an anoxic brain injury due to the lack of oxygen during labor and delivery.
The Rhode Island medical malpractice lawsuit alleged that the standard of care required that after four minutes of resuscitation efforts on the mother, a crash bedside Cesarean delivery was required and that the defendant obstetrician should have used a faster vertical incision instead of a transverse incision.
The defense argued that the defendant obstetrician had met the standard of care by stabilizing the mother and delivering the baby within 20 minutes, noting that he had no prior knowledge regarding the woman.
After the parties to the Rhode Island medical malpractice case completed initial discovery, the parties agreed to settle for $11 million in June 2025. There was no claim for the death of the mother.