$______ CONFIDENTIAL RECOVERY - MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - HOSPITAL NEGLIGENCE - FAILURE TO FOLLOW HOSPITAL'S OWN POLICIES ON HIGH RISK PREGNANCIES - FIRST TIME MOTHER DIES SHORTLY AFTER GIVING BIRTH - WRONGFUL DEATH OF 34- YEAR-OLD.

Pages3-4
soned driver’s alleged inattention as a reason that it was not responsible for the horrific in-
juries sustained by the occupants of the vehicle that was struck by the school bus. The jury
disagreed with this view, as evidenced by its verdict.
During the trial, there were numerous issues that the plaintiffs were able to use to their ad-
vantage and were likely contributing factors to the amount of the award that was returned
by the jury. For instance, there was a gap in the security camera video inside the bus, which
coincidently happened just immediately prior to the collision. There was also evidence as to
the driver suffering from a shoulder injury which brought into question whether or not the
driver should have been even operating the bus on the date of this incident. Another issue
that played to the plaintiff’s advantage at trial was the training information for the bus
driver which indicated that the bus company had intentionally withheld information about its
training materials.
Critical evidence in this matter included evidence that the bus driver was operating too fast
for the curve in the roadway and went into the plaintiff’s lane of travel, collided with the
plaintiff’s vehicle and then pushed that vehicle, as the driver unsuccessfully attempted to con-
trol the bus, back into the bus’s lane of travel. At first glance, this would suggest, as the de-
fendant attempted to argue, that the plaintiff’s vehicle crossed into the bus’s lane of travel.
In fact, evidence disclosed on photographs that there was yellow paint from the bus on the
sidewall of the front tire from the plaintiff’s vehicle.
Additional evidence demonstrated that the bus driver had conflicting testimony about what
happened immediately prior to the collision. At first, the bus driver testified that she was
traveling 30-35 mph when she entered the curve and hit the brake when the plaintiffs’ vehi-
cle entered her lane. Later, she told a different story, that she was traveling 20-25 mph and
had her foot over the brake when the collision occurred. The bus’s GPS tracking system was
also instrumental to the plaintiffs’ version of how the incident occurred, demonstrating that
the bus was, in fact, in the oncoming lane prior to the point where the vehicles came to rest.
$12,000,000 CONFIDENTIAL RECOVERY – MEDICAL
MALPRACTICE – HOSPITAL NEGLIGENCE – FAILURE TO
FOLLOW HOSPITAL’S OWN POLICIES ON HIGH RISK
PREGNANCIES – FIRST TIME MOTHER DIES SHORTLY
AFTER GIVING BIRTH – WRONGFUL DEATH OF 34-
YEAR-OLD.
Withheld County, MA
In this medical malpractice matter, the plaintiff contended that the
decedent mother died as a result of the defendant hospital’s
negligence in failing to transfer the decedent to another facility
when it was deemed that she was a high-risk induction. The
defendant denied any wrongdoing and disputed liability and
damages.
The first time mother, age 34, was admitted to the defendant’s hospital
for induction of labor. The defendant hospital immediately noted that the
mother was suffering from preeclampsia yet failed to follow its own policy
to transfer the mother. The mother was given Pitocin and the Pitocin was
continued despite the mother’s complaints of difficulty breathing, low ox-
ygen, need for oxygen and low blood pressure. Even when she began
vomiting and experienced an elevated heart rate, the hospital and its
staff did nothing.
The child was ultimately delivered by Cesarean section and was healthy.
During the delivery, though, the mother lost a significant amount of blood
and obviously had suffered a hemorrhage, but instead of being treated
for such, the defendant was not concerned and failed to take any im-
mediate action. It was not until the patient, shortly after the delivery was
suffering from blood clots vaginally, constantly vomiting and had an ir-
regular heart rate that an EKG was performed which disclosed that the
patient had suffered a heart attack and she went into respiratory and
cardiac arrest and died.
SUMMARIES WITH TRIAL ANALYSIS 3
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