Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center amended complaint alleges delayed response to fetal distress before a newborn’s death
The amended complaint alleges that obstetric providers at Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center did not timely respond to a nonreassuring fetal heart tracing. The tracing arose during labor in April 2018. Nurses repeatedly asked an obstetrician to evaluate the mother in person as variability changed and her temperature and pulse rose. He was documented at the bedside at 8:00 a.m. and next at 4:55 p.m.; nurses reached him by phone in between. A second physician placed a fetal scalp electrode at 4:37 p.m., after the tracing became Category III at 3:20 p.m.. The newborn was delivered by forceps limp and cyanotic and transferred for therapeutic cooling. She was diagnosed with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and sepsis before she died nine days later.
Overview
This page concerns a public complaint alleging that obstetric providers at Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center did not timely respond to a nonreassuring fetal heart tracing. The tracing arose during labor, before a newborn’s death.
Chronology
The complaint alleges as follows:
- The mother was admitted to the Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center labor and delivery unit in April 2018 with contractions.
- Nurses documented minimal fetal heart rate variability through the night and kept the obstetrician informed.
- By the next afternoon, her temperature reached 101.3 degrees and her pulse rose to 115 while the fetal heart tracing showed minimal variability.
- Nurses repeatedly asked the obstetrician and a certified nurse midwife to evaluate her in person. By 3:20 p.m. the tracing had become Category III, with absent variability.
- A second physician placed a fetal scalp electrode and evaluated the tracing in person at 4:37 p.m.
- The newborn was delivered by forceps at 5:24 p.m., limp and cyanotic, with an Apgar score of 1.
- She was transferred for therapeutic cooling, diagnosed with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and E. coli sepsis, and died on May 9, 2018.
Alleged failures
The complaint alleges the following failures:
- The obstetrician did not timely recognize or respond to signs of fetal distress and did not order a timely cesarean section.
- The certified nurse midwife did not summon an obstetrician in time and did not timely recommend and advocate for a cesarean section.
- Nurses did not timely and appropriately advocate for a change in the plan of care or use the chain of command.
- The hospital and the physician groups did not have adequate protocols for managing fetal distress and emergency cesarean sections.
- The complaint alleges that the defendants’ acts and omissions caused hypoxic ischemia that culminated in the newborn’s death.
- The complaint pleads medical negligence, vicarious liability, direct liability, an estate claim, and wrongful death, and attaches expert affidavits under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1.