$8.3 Million Birth Injury Settlement

Principal Attorneys David J. Pritchard and Patrick A. Salvi announced that Judge Daniel Locallo of the Circuit Court of Cook County approved an 8.3 million dollar settlement in the case of Diego Arredondo v. Westlake Hospital of Melrose Park, Illinois (Court No: 00 L 13977).

On April 18, 2000, Mrs. Arredondo was admitted to Westlake Hospital for labor and delivery. There were several high-risk factors associated with her pregnancy; preeclampsia, a Grade III placenta, and a less than perfect biophysical profile. Despite these warning signs, Dr. Jean Alexandre, the obstetrician, elected to leave the hospital while the patient was induced. During the course of labor, several additional warning signs occurred including hyperstimulation of mom’s uterus and abnormal findings on the fetal heart rate. The labor and delivery nurses failed to appreciate these warnings, and Dr. Alexandre was not in the hospital when mom began to push for delivery. While waiting for Dr. Alexandre to arrive, the nurses instructed mom not to push. Unfortunately, the baby had a triple nuchal cord, which compromised delivery of oxygen to the baby’s brain. This resulted in hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, which caused profound brain damage. In addition to disputing liability and causation, the defense argued that the child’s life expectancy was minimal due to the fact that, since birth, he has continuously been in and out Intensive Care at Loyola University Medical Center with pneumonia, respiratory distress, infections and seizures.

“The Arredondo Family has been devastated by something that never should have happened. For many hours, multiple warning signs existed that this baby was in trouble; but no one recognized the signs nor did anything about them. If the medical community continues to use the “team” approach to treating patients, then the medical community needs to make sure that each member of that team is appropriately trained and educated,” said David J. Pritchard.