Jeanne Browne, a midwife from Concord, Massachusetts, settled a $730,000 lawsuit with a family whose child suffered a severe brain injury during a birth that Browne supervised. According to the Concord Monitor, Sarah and Jonathan Sadowski’s daughter remained in the hospital for 21 days following her birth in January 2009, and she now has cerebral palsy. Browne surrendered her license after her investigation by the state Midwifery Council last June. Several hospitals in the area filed complaints about Browne’s failure to consult with obstetricians about high-risk pregnancies, though Browne stated that she stood by her decisions. The Sadowskis also stated that Browne did not manage their pregnancy appropriately, since Sarah Sadowski had several risk factors and the midwife did not refer her to an obstetrician. In addition, Browne did not send Sadowski to the hospital when she could not find the baby’s heartbeat during labor or after the baby’s birth….
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Birth Injury and Cerebral Palsy Attorneys Home
Massachusetts Midwife Settles Cerebral Palsy Lawsuit
September 1, 2011Children Born After Sibling with Autism at Greater Risk
August 30, 2011A new study from scientists associated with the Baby Siblings Research Consortium finds that the risk for autism spectrum disorder in children with older siblings who have autism is 18.7 percent. According to CNN, the study monitored 664 infants from infancy to 36 months who had an older brother or sister with autism. These recent findings are much higher than previous studies that found a recurrence risk of three percent to 10 percent. The risk for autism recurrence is even higher in families with more than one affected sibling–33 percent. The study also noted that male infants experienced a 26 percent risk for autism, three times greater than female infants’ risk of nine percent. Parental age, older sibling gender and birth order were not predictors of autism, in that a second child born with autism increases the third child’s risk even if the first child does not have the disorder….
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New Simulators Train Doctors to Prevent Birth Injuries
August 25, 2011Everyone knows that in order to become skilled at a task, you must learn through experience. That is exactly what Noelle, an anatomically correct rubber model of a pregnant woman’s body embedded with computer chips, is doing for the obstetricians learning at Jacobi Hospital’s Institute for Medial Simulation and Advanced Learning. For obstetricians who want to prevent birth injuries from occurring during actual labor situations, this pregnant simulator with a simulated baby creates shoulder dystocia situations, oxygen problems, and other potential labor complications. According to International Business Times, some medical situations are rare in real-life settings, so that doctors may not have the opportunity to teach a resident in training. In addition, this on-the-job training often involves more descriptions of what the teacher is doing, rather than allowing the student to accomplish the task. The training classes that go along with the simulations at Jacobi Hospital also allow the doctors…
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