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Summary Judgment for Obstetrician
DSMF Senior Attorney Joe B. Swart successfully moved for summary judgment on behalf of an obstetrician treating a mother during a labor complicated by non-reassuring fetal heart signs and evidence of chorioamnionitis.
The plaintiffs claimed the physicians and hospital providing prenatal care, labor management and delivery of the infant negligently failed to treat this as a high-risk pregnancy, did not properly diagnose and treat chorioamnionitis and ignored decelerations in the fetal heart rate during labor. The plaintiff further alleged the infant suffered hypoxia, brain damage, cerebral palsy and quadriplegia as a result of the defendants’ negligence.
Our motion for summary judgment showed that the obstetrician provided proper care during his management of the mother’s labor – a window of approximately 8 hours the day prior to delivery.
The Bronx County Supreme Court granted summary judgment to the doctor, in spite of strong opposition from a highly reputable plaintiff’s firm specializing in brain-damaged baby cases.
