Question

On April 27, 1983, Jane and Jim Jones were married.  On July 4, 1983, the newlyweds received the happy news from their family doctor, Dr. Kagen that Jane was expecting their first child.  The Joneses found an OBGYN named Dr. Kay to guide them through the pregnancy and delivery.  Dr. Kay had been an OBGYN for 20 years and was then employed at San Angelo Medical Center in San Angelo, Texas along with three other OBGYNs. 

 The Joneses were very excited for their first baby.  Jane followed all of Dr. Kay’s instructions, took her vitamins, read baby books and followed a regular pregnancy exercise routine.  She and her husband never missed a doctor’s appointment.  By all accounts, the pregnancy progressed perfectly.  The Joneses learned that their child was going to be a girl and they decided to name her Emma.  

 

On the evening of March 29, 1984, Jane began having contractions and Jim drove her to San Angelo Medical Center for the delivery.  Upon arrival at the hospital, the Joneses were informed for the first time that Dr. Kay had gone on vacation and was not available to deliver their child.  The Joneses were worried, but Jane was progressing very quickly and would have the baby soon.   The attending nurses set Jane up in a labor and delivery room and made several efforts to contact Dr. Kay, but were unsuccessful. It was typical hospital policy at that time for the OBGYN to perform deliveries with the assistance of the attending nurses, but none of the nurses had ever performed a delivery alone.  

 

The nurses called the floor’s charge nurse, who informed them that she had called another OBGYN and they needed wait until he arrived, and instruct the patient not to push. 

 

Even though the nurses had never performed a delivery, they felt as though they could perform this one by themselves, and so they ignored their supervisor and proceeded with the delivery.  Everything was going smoothly until she became stuck in the birth canal.  The nurses, unsure of how to proceed, determined that the use of forceps was necessary in order to complete the delivery.  Emma was delivered successfully, but suffered facial nerve damage and cerebral palsy as a result of the force applied to her head and face by the forceps during delivery.    

 

Jim and Jane are very upset and are unsure how they will pay for Emma’s probably lifelong medical bills.  They want to bring negligence actions against Dr. Kay, the nursing staff and San Angelo Medical Center.  

 

Please discuss any negligence actions you feel the Joneses may be able to bring in this case and whether or not you think they will be successful.  

 

Next, please discuss any medical responsibilities that existed here and whether or not they were appropriately followed. If you find that a medical responsibility was not followed, please indicate if the failure to follow the responsibility led to a medical error, and if so, what should have been done differently to prevent that error.