Levin & Perconti attorneys secured a $4 million settlement for a family whose baby died after hospital staff failed to properly respond to severe hypertension and signs of placental abruption during the mother’s pregnancy. The hospital delayed transferring the mother to Labor and Delivery and failed to promptly monitor her baby’s heart rate, leaving a life-threatening complication undetected until it was too late. Attorneys Steven M. Levin and Seth L. Cardeli represented the family.
What Happened
A woman who was 34 weeks pregnant arrived at a Chicago hospital’s emergency department complaining of nausea and feeling unwell. Her blood pressure was dangerously elevated, placing both her and her unborn baby at risk.
Severe hypertension during pregnancy can lead to serious complications, including placental abruption, a condition in which the placenta separates from the uterine wall before delivery. This separation can interrupt the baby’s oxygen supply and cause life-threatening bleeding.
Despite the mother’s condition, hospital staff did not immediately transfer her to Labor and Delivery or begin monitoring her baby’s heart rate.
Instead, she remained in the emergency department while staff attempted to lower her blood pressure. During this time, no electronic fetal monitoring was performed to determine whether the baby was experiencing distress.
More than an hour after arriving at the hospital, the mother was transferred to Labor and Delivery. During the transfer, she developed severe abdominal pain. By the time she arrived, she was also experiencing vaginal bleeding and had a rigid abdomen, both concerning signs of placental abruption.
Despite these developments, fetal monitoring was not immediately initiated.
When hospital staff eventually attempted to assess the baby’s heartbeat, no cardiac activity was detected.
The mother underwent an emergency Cesarean section, during which doctors confirmed that her baby had died. They also identified a placental abruption.
What Levin & Perconti Argued
Levin & Perconti argued that the hospital failed to recognize the seriousness of the mother’s condition and missed critical opportunities to identify fetal distress before the baby died.
The mother’s severe hypertension required immediate obstetrical evaluation, continuous fetal monitoring, and prompt treatment. Instead, she remained in the emergency department without the monitoring necessary to assess her baby’s condition.
When she developed severe abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding, hospital personnel failed to respond appropriately when the mother developed severe abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding. These symptoms should have raised immediate concerns about placental abruption and prompted an emergency evaluation.
The defense maintained that the mother had refused electronic fetal monitoring. However, the mother testified that monitoring was never offered to her and that no one explained the potential danger to her baby.
Levin & Perconti challenged the refusal argument, maintaining that hospital staff had an obligation to explain the importance of fetal monitoring and ensure that the mother understood the risks associated with her condition.
The firm’s medical experts concluded that the placental abruption occurred while the mother was at the hospital. They maintained that timely fetal monitoring would more likely than not have revealed signs of distress, allowing physicians to intervene with an emergency C-section before the baby died.
“When a pregnant patient arrives with blood pressure this high, doctors have to consider both patients. The mother needed urgent treatment, but the baby also needed to be monitored. The failure to move her promptly to Labor and Delivery left the medical team without crucial information as her condition became more dangerous. By the time anyone checked for a heartbeat, it was too late.”
$4 Million Settlement
Levin & Perconti secured a $4 million settlement for the family, resolving the medical malpractice case before trial.
This settlement recognizes the devastating consequences of failing to provide timely care during a high-risk pregnancy and hold the hospital accountable for their negligence.
Contact Levin & Perconti For a Free Consultation
When a delivery doesn’t go as planned and your baby is harmed, you deserve clear answers about what happened and whether it could have been prevented. If a delayed C-section, a missed warning sign during labor, or another preventable error caused your child a birth injury, the team at Levin & Perconti is ready to help you understand your legal options. Reach out to our experienced birth injury attorneys or call (312) 332-2872 to schedule a free consultation.
