Sheldon Brenner Obtains Not Guilty for Hospitalist Pediatrician Charged with Improper Resuscitation of Second Born Identical Twin Girl
Sheldon Brenner recently tried a case in Waukegan, IL, on behalf of a Board Certified Pediatrician employed as a hospitalist at Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, IL. The doctor was in house but not notified of an admittedly high risk delivery of twins until approximately seven minutes after the second baby was delivered. She was born profoundly compromised. He took over the resuscitation that was underway by labor and delivery nurses but the nurses were not permitted to intubate or administer epinephrine. The doctor intubated the infant with a 2.5 size ETT but shortly afterwards switched to a 3.0 tube. The plaintiff contended that the physician’s failure to use the larger tube initially was a deviation from the standard of care, as was his failure to order blood for the anemic infant. The baby died five hours after delivery. The plaintiff’s demand was $3.5 million dollars. The jury was asked to award $7.1 million dollars, and a not guilty verdict was returned in approximately one hour. Other defendants included the hospital, a neonatologist, and an obstetrician, who was dismissed on the second day of trial after he offered testimony unfavorable to the hospital.