Patrick C. Carey, a partner in the firm’s Scranton office, recently obtained a defense verdict for the certified nurse midwife team at Lehigh Valley Hospital – Cedar Crest after a month-long trial before President Judge Johnson in Lehigh County.

In this case, Plaintiff alleged that the certified nurse midwife team did not obtain a timely GBS (Group B Strep) culture during her pregnancy and missed diagnosing a GBS negative culture.  Plaintiff further alleged that her son passed away within 15 hours of delivery from sepsis due to GBS.

Attorney Carey marshalled and called expert witnesses to contest the death certificate and established that the fetus did not pass away from sepsis due to GBS, but rather expired due to a pre-existing condition in utero of bone marrow suppression, lung damage, and metabolic acidosis caused by cholestasis, which was timely diagnosed on a clinical basis and induction recommended before a GBS culture could return, acting within the standard of care as established by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) which did not recommend antibiotics to the patient during labor.  In addition, a pediatric infectious disease expert established that earlier antibiotics would not have changed the unfortunate outcome in this case, in part due to the bone marrow suppression of the child’s autoimmune response system and lung damage and metabolic acidosis before birth due to the cholestasis, none of which could have been diagnosed earlier.

After two days of deliberation, the jury rendered a unanimous defense verdict.  This was a hotly contested case with high stakes in which the parents were claiming pain and suffering, negligent infliction of emotional distress, loss of economic horizons of the child and loss of the child’s affection.

If you have any questions about this case, please contact Patrick Carey, Esq. at pcarey@c-wlaw.com or (570) 347-0600.