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As a result of his premature birth, the plaintiff was diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy which required him to receive physical and occupational therapy.
On the morning of Friday, September 9, 1994, the mother, then 29 weeks pregnant awoke to her bed being soaked with fluid. Concerned that she had ruptured her waters, she contacted her obstetrician gynecologist, Susan N. Lopez-Feniquito, M.D., who told her that she would have to wait until that afternoon for a visit.
Late that afternoon, Dr. Feniquito saw the patient but her evaluation consisted only of a Nitrazene paper test, which was negative. Despite the fact that Nitrazine paper tests can yield false negatives, Dr. Feniquito failed to perform a Ferning test, a speculum exam, fetal monitoring or a sonogram to rule out ruptured membranes. Rather, Dr. Feniquito instructed the mother to come back on Monday for a sonogram, as her technician had just left for the weekend.
Following this office visit, at approximately 8:00 p.m. the same day, the mother began to feel contractions and contacted Dr. Feniquito. Dr. Feniquito instructed the mother to go to Good Samaritan Hospital. The mother proceeded to Good Samaritan Hospital where a physical was performed. A vaginal examination revealed that the mother was 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. The hospital records indicate that her bag of waters was ruptured, but nitrazine paper testing was again negative. A complete blood count revealed that the patient had an elevated white blood count and a shift to the left, indications of an infectious process. However, nothing was done in response to these findings until approximately 3:00 a.m., when a urinalysis was performed and revealed bacteria.
Additionally, while Magnesium Sulfate was given to the patient, Dr. Feniquito failed to properly adjust the dose of same. Dr. Feniquito also failed to administer steroids to accelerate fetal lung maturity in the event that a premature birth became unavoidable.
Over the course of the late hours of September 9th through the early morning hours of September 10th, the fetal monitoring strips showed numerous decelerations which should have been recognized as non-reassuring by the hospital staff and/or Dr. Feniquito.
At 4:40 a.m., the mother was examined and found to be 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced. At 5:55 a.m., she was found to be 6-7 cm dilated. At 7:42 a.m., she was fully dilated and the infant plaintiff, the plaintiff was born at 8:01 a.m. with 1 minute Apgar score of 7. The vaginal culture taken from mother upon admission ultimately grew out Group B strep and the infant was diagnosed with Group B sepsis. Pathological examination of the placenta and cord revealed acute chorioamnionitis.
The infant suffered prematurity, Group B sepsis, RDS, Grade III Intraventricular Hemorrhage and Periventricular Leukomylacia.
Plaintiff alleged that Dr. Feniquito departed from good and accepted practice by failing to properly evaluate the mother in a hospital setting immediately upon the first phone call on September 9th. Plaintiff further alleged that since nitrazine paper testing has a significant false negative rate, an ultrasound was required to rule out preterm premature rupture of membranes. Plaintiff also alleged that after the mother was admitted to the defendant hospital, Dr, Feniquito and the hospital staff failed to timely and properly administer antibiotics and failed to timely and properly recognize and act upon non-reassuring fetal heart rate tracings.
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