St. Louis Couple Alleges Shocking Birth Injuries

A recent lawsuit claims that doctors decapitated a baby during delivery and then shoved the headless corpse back into the mother’s vagina in an attempt to conceal the error. 

The complaint filed in St. Louis Circuit Court alleges that doctors were attempting to perform a vaginal delivery when the infant’s abdomen became lodged in the birth canal; when doctors tried to pull the baby out with a mechanical device, the baby was decapitated. One doctor then pushed the deceased infant back into the mother while calling for an emergency C-section. According to the complaint, doctors began the C-section before the anesthesia had set in, causing the mother great pain and suffering. The doctors deny these allegations and a trial date has been set for 2014.

The allegations in this lawsuit illustrate two issues that Washington, D.C. birth injury attorneys see quite frequently: panic and misuse.

Panic

In about one or two percent of deliveries, the newborn becomes lodged in the mother’s cervix or birth canal. Time is critical in such a situation, because the umbilical cord continues to drop and can become entangled around the baby’s neck.

 Because such events are rare and happen quickly with little or no warning, doctors may panic and make poor decisions. In this case, the doctors allegedly made a bad decision both during and after the delivery. But it was the alleged decision to use a mechanically-assisted delivery that did the greatest harm to this young family.

Misuse

When panic sets in, doctors become desperate and misuse instruments such as the vacuum extractor, a device that literally sucks the baby out of the mother. If used incorrectly, such a device can cause serious injuries to the baby. As seen in this lawsuit, those injuries can even be grotesque.

 If your baby has been injured in a birth accident, contact a top Washington, D.C. birth injury attorney for your free consultation.