Hospital Settles Birth Injury Malpractice Case for $3 Million

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The medical staff at Maternal Fetal Medicine Division of the University of Connecticut Health Center in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology knew that 26-year-old Diana Leavy’s pregnancy was high risk due to her diabetes. On the night of November 19, 2010, she went into labor and was taken to John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington. Electronic fetal heart monitoring began. Shortly after 1 a.m., there were increasingly ominous signs on the monitor indicating that the baby was in distress. According to court documents, Kristine Pattison Maccomber, a second-year OB/GYN resident, and Padmalatha Gurram, an OB/GYN fellow, failed to notice this, and as such, did nothing about it. The baby was eventually delivered at 8:30 am. According to medical testimony, the child should have been delivered 5-7 hours earlier. As a result of the failure to deliver the child earlier, the baby suffered a stroke. Today, the child is active but has significant weakness and limitations in his right arm and leg. He attends a preschool, where he receives occupational therapy daily, speech therapy three times per week, and physical therapy one time per week. In addition, he attends outpatient physical therapy and outpatient occupational therapy sessions once a week. Part of this therapy includes electrical stimulation to his arm in order to build muscle and increase range of motion.

Eva Bleich
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