Hobbsr: 3 Moms Sue Hospital and Doctor for Botched Deliveries

When a pregnant woman goes into the hospital to have their baby delivered, they don’t expect to be suing the hospital over a botched delivery. Unfortunately, for three mothers in the Houston area, that was exactly their fate. They went into East Houston Regional Medical Center to have their babies delivered, and of the three, one child died and the other two were permanently injured during the birthing process.

As well as all going to the same hospital, the three women had the same doctor. Now, the three women also have the same lawyers, and all three are suing both the doctor and the hospital for the birth injuries.

Houston, What Happened?

The doctor in charge of all three deliveries, Dr. June Williams-Coleman, is alleged to have not exercised the standard duty of care in all three births. Prior to first mom’s delivery in this case, Dr. Coleman had been disciplined by the Texas Board of Medicine for the exact same conduct that the lawsuit is alleging.

Dr. Coleman allegedly failed to suggest a c-section after the infants were discovered to be in distress. Additionally, it is alleged that Dr. Coleman improperly used the vacuum technique, as well as improperly broke an infant’s collar bone (which is rarely required if the shoulders become stuck during birth). There are even more allegations against Dr. Coleman for other failures.

In the delivery that led to the death of the infant, the mother’s sister, who was present, described a gruesome scene. The sister explained that Dr. Coleman was pulling out bloody parts of the baby’s head after attempting the vacuum method of pulling the infant out. In the other two deliveries, the infants were permanently injured, and will suffer both mentally and physically for life.

Suing for Birth Injuries

Each of the mothers potentially have very strong cases. Generally, in medical negligence cases, plaintiffs need to prove that the doctor or hospital fell below what the usual standard of care is for a particular procedure. While the standard of care can vary from hospital to hospital, or even regionally, it would seem that since the doctor in this case had been previously disciplined for falling below the standard of care when similar unfortunate events occurred in the delivery room, neither doctor, nor hospital, are in a good spot, legally speaking.

The mother of the deceased infant is seeking emotional distress damages, while the mothers of the infants that survived are seeking damages to cover future medical costs, as well as costs associated with raising a disabled child. The living children themselves will also have causes of action against the doctor and hospital that can be brought at a later date.

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