Saxton-Lucas v. Contra Costa County Regional Medical Center, et al.

Dr. Fagel achieved a settlement of $4.5 million on behalf of a child who now suffers cerebral palsy and developmental delays due to a variety of errors committed by physicians during the birth process. The mother was first admitted to the hospital on Sept. 18, 1998 and was given Pitocin to augment labor. However, after 7 hours without progress, she was sent home. She was readmitted to the defendant medical center six days later and was given a Misoprostil suppository to induce labor even though she had been on Pitocin just days earlier. A few hours later, the defendant resident started an amnioinfusion even though the monitor showed no significant problems. The fetal heart rate began to drop and the resident performed a scalp stimulation without success. The fetal heart rate continued to drop and the resident called for an emergency C-section. Unfortunately, the obstetrician was not in the hospital at the time and it took him 15 minutes to arrive, so the procedure was not performed until almost 30 minutes after it was first ordered. The plaintiff was eventually delivered with dangerously low vital signs and remained in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for about a month and a half before being discharged. Due to complications and delays in the delivery process, the plaintiff now suffers cerebral palsy and developmental delays and requires care for all activities of daily living.

Dr. Fagel and his team of talented attorneys were able to prove that the defendant medical facility and staff were responsible for the plaintiff’s injuries for a variety of reasons. First, the defendant medical center was negligent for allowing a resident to perform an amnioinfusion without review by a supervising obstetrician. Second, the resident physician was negligent for performing an unnecessary amnioinfusion, which lead to acute placental abruption and fetal distress. Finally, once fetal distress was diagnosed, there was an undue delay in the performance of the C-section because an obstetrician was not present at the defendant medical center. Had just one of these three errors not been committed, the tragic outcome likely would have been avoided.