Jury awards mother of brain-damaged boy $17 million in lawsuit

“Lafferty’s case centered on an ultrasound examination that was performed before she gave birth.

Because of a rare medical condition called fetal maternal hemorrhage, the child lost 75 percent of his blood before birth, had to be resuscitated after an emergency delivery by Caesarean section and was left with serious brain damage, impaired vision and cerebral palsy.

Dr. Arthur A. Castagno, who joined Stevens in 2002 and became head of the radiology department this year, said in the hospital statement he had reviewed the records and believes Lafferty, doctors and the hospital staff did all they should have done.

Lafferty went to her doctor the day before Thanksgiving in 1998 and reported decreased movement by the fetus. The physician referred her to Stevens for an obstetric ultrasound which was interpreted as normal by the radiologist, Castagno said.

The day after Thanksgiving, Lafferty returned to her physician with the same concern and was sent again to the hospital, where a monitoring device showed the fetus’ heart had stopped beating. At that point the fetus “was in extremely bad shape,” Castagno said.

Lafferty claimed that she was given the wrong ultrasound test, that the first test showed her fetus was in trouble, that she was wrongly directed to undergo further tests and that the baby should have been delivered immediately after the first test.”

Any OB’s care to comment?