Shoulder Dystocia Leading to Mild Brachial Plexus Injury

Settlement Amount: $300,000.00
Settlement Date: 3/2000
Attorney: Howard D. Mishkind

Description of Case: 32-year-old mother presented to Hospital two hours after her water broke, fully dilated. Third year resident delivered child. Child sustained brachial plexus injury to right arm. Plaintiff alleged that defendant obstetrician failed to perform a vaginal exam on the last visit (the day of delivery) and failed to appreciate patient’s complaint of decreased fetal movement. Such complaints should have caused mother to be sent to the hospital for an NST which would have placed her in the hospital at the time of labor so that the precipitous delivery would have been managed by more experienced personnel and with a greater likelihood of avoiding a brachial plexus injury. Plaintiff alleged that defendant resident applied excessive lateral traction on the baby’s neck and did not apply the McRobert’s maneuver. Plaintiff alleged that the two-minute head to body time in the records is inconsistent with the outcome in this case.

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