$2,000,000 Settlement for Failure to Treat Cardiac Abnormality in Utero

Carol Forte represented a five-year-old girl who was delivered more than two months early and suffers from developmental disabilities. The girl will receive $2,00,000 from the insurance carriers for two doctors who decided to perform an unnecessary emergency Caesarean Section delivery of the girl who was significantly premature.

On June 22, 2005, after 26 weeks of pregnancy, the child’s mother went for a visit to her obstetrician. He diagnosed a low fetal heartbeat and sent the woman to a nearby hospital where an emergency C-section was performed. The child sustained severe respiratory difficulties as a result of the premature delivery and required the insertion of a tracheostomy tube. The complaint alleged that the low heart rate was caused by a blockage that could have been treated in utero, with the baby being carried to term, and, that the doctors should have consulted first with a pediatric cardiologist. The girl is unable to speak more than a few words at a time, can consume only pureed foods, needs assistance eating and requires physical therapy due to delayed motor skills, development and muscle weakness. Carol settled this case for the full extent of the insurance coverage available: both doctors had $1 million insurance policies, which will be used to fund the settlement.