Defense Verdict for Midwife.

Marshall Dennehey's health care attorneys obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a midwife in a case involving alleged failure to properly manage and care for a patient’s labor and delivery, resulting in catastrophic injury to her child. Counsel for the minor-plaintiff argued that the pregnancy and labor were high risk. Therefore, it was below the standard of care to use intermittent auscultation (IA) during the second stage of labor. The plaintiff argued that the fetus suffered a catastrophic brain injury during the second stage of labor, resulting in cerebral palsy and daily intractable seizures. The child is six years of age, wheelchair bound, unable to speak or feed himself, and will require lifetime supervision and care. The defense argued that the patient’s pregnancy remained low risk; that IA was within the standard of care; a sentinel event did not occur during the second stage of labor; and that the child’s brain injury occurred in the days leading up to the hospital admission for labor.