Atlee Hall Resolves Birth Injury Case

The Lancaster medical malpractice attorneys with Atlee Hall recently resolved a medical negligence case against an obstetrician for an injury our client sustained at birth. The child’s delivery was complicated by a shoulder dystocia. Rather than perform standard maneuvers to resolve the shoulder dystocia, the obstetrician used excessive traction to dislodge the child’s shoulder, causing injury to his brachial plexus. As a result, the child has limitations in the use of his right arm.

Shoulder dystocia cases are often complicated by the fact that when such a situation arises, it is an emergency that must be resolved as quickly as possible. Through our experts, we were able to show that the defendant obstetrician did not act reasonably in his attempt to resolve the shoulder dystocia and instead performed the delivery in a hasty, panicked fashion using straight traction, which was inappropriate.

To support our obstetrician expert’s opinions, we enlisted a biomedical engineer to opine on the potential use of excessive force or traction in this case. The biomedical engineer authored an extensive report detailing his findings that the child’s injury was due to the force generated by the obstetrician’s use of traction during delivery. Shortly after production of our expert reports, the case was able to be resolved. The funds will be used to ensure that the child receives the care that he deserves throughout his life.