According to AMA ASSN, the parents of a brain-damaged girl have won the right to sue the hospital and doctor who treated her instead of pursuing a financial remedy through a state fund for birth-related injuries. The Supreme Court of Florida ruled that the parents of Tristan Bennett can avoid the state fund, which could have significant liability consequences for other physicians involved in similar brain injury claims.
Tristan was delivered by cesarean section at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Jacksonville, Florida, after her mother was involved in an automobile accident. The infant required resuscitation after birth but responded to oxygen efforts. Tristan was later sent to the special care nursery because of moderate respiratory distress, but continued to experience several health ailments the following week, including kidney and liver problems. About two months later, the newborn experienced a pulmonary hemorrhage and stopped breathing. Tests showed that she had permanent and substantial neurological damage. Robert and Tammy Bennett accused the hospital and obstetrician-gynecologist William H. Long, MD of negligence. The parents allege the hospital staff administered too much intravenous fluid to infant and failed to test for serum electrolyte derangements until too late. The hospital said the newborn experienced oxygen deprivation and brain injury before delivery, and that the oxygen loss contributed to other health problems and permanent brain damage.
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