Birth injuries are one of the areas of medical malpractice that Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro, Moses & Halperin, LLP, specializes in. The top New York personal injury firm understands all aspects of the process leading up to delivery, whether it’s properly assessing a mother prior to delivery, the circumstances under which delivery should be expedited through an emergency C-section, or the proper way to resuscitate a baby.
Philip Russotti, a partner with WRSH, talked about the firm’s expertise in a series of YouTube videos. Here’s what he had to say:
Why Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro, Moses & Halperin, LLP?
“[We have handled] a failure to have the correct preterm care, the failure to properly watch fetal heart strips during labor, and the failure to properly resuscitate an infant after birth, in addition to situations that occur in the hospital in the days following birth—such as the failure to diagnose bilirubinemia or jaundice in an infant. We also have Kathy Kettles, who is a registered nurse, and Jason Rubin, who is expert at looking at these type of medical records and determining if there is a case.
“I have taken many of these cases to trial and obtained substantial eight-figure settlements for them, and most recently, Kathy Kettles obtained a $12.5-million settlement for a little baby that was injured at birth. So we are very experienced in this area; we have a lot of knowledge, and we know experts who are very adept at finding problems during the process and who are able to come into court and explain that succinctly to a jury.”
We Seek Justice for Major Birth Injuries
“There are basically two types of injuries: cerebral palsy or some degree of cognitive dysfunction. You can have cognitive dysfunction without cerebral palsy. You can have ADHD, for instance, which is caused by lack of oxygen at birth. Or you can have what’s called Erb’s palsy. Those are the typical settings in which parents come to us and are seeking legal advice.
“Birth injuries can occur across the entire socioeconomic spectrum. Our clients range from people on the Upper East Side, people from the Bronx, people from Brooklyn. High economic status, low economic status, people who’ve not had children before, young people, people who have had children before, people who’ve had cesarean sections and are now having a vaginal birth after a cesarean section… so it encompasses the entire range of New York population.”
Birth Injury Lawsuits Are About Tragedy and Justice
“There’s nothing more tragic than a mother who has carried a baby to term and has done everything in her power to be healthy, done all the right things during that pregnancy, who has a normal baby and then goes into a delivery room and that baby becomes brain-damaged for life. There’s nothing more heart-wrenching than that. There’s nothing more devastating to a family to go through all that and now have a life where they have to care for and treat a disabled child.
“Let me tell you about one case. I obtained a $10-million settlement on behalf of a baby, who was injured at birth, because an obstetrician failed to properly read and pay attention to fetal heart strips.
“The mother realized there was decreased activity in the baby and went to the hospital to report this. She was in her third trimester. The hospital put her on monitors, called the doctor in. Doctor looked at it, said she was fine; she could continue. She went into labor, and they continued her in labor for over 18 hours. At 8 o’clock in the morning, when the doctor’s partner came in to relieve him, he looked at the fetal heart strips and said, ‘She’s got to go to the operating room immediately,’ and they did an emergency C-section.
“And the reason was the fetal heart strip showed what are called decelerations, late decelerations, which were not happening at the proper time during contractions, and which indicated fetal distress—that the fetus was suffering hypoxia (lack of oxygen) at the time of the contractions. This went on for almost 12 hours from when it was first detectable on the strips, to which this obstetrician did nothing. This child was born severely compromised, was on a feeding tube, and had severe brain damage. Although she was aware of her mother’s presence and could communicate [with her mother], the child required a lot of services. We were able to obtain this result on the eve of trial, which was invested for the child, and was able to provide more than enough money for this family to take care of the child for the rest of their life.” (Hear the story on YouTube)
How We Succeed on Behalf of New York Families
“The thing that I bring to the table, if you will, in this setting is the ability to get a successful result in very difficult cases. These cases are difficult to try: medicine is difficult; it takes a tremendous amount of preparation and attention to detail, which I and my firm bring to these cases. Because of that, we’re able to achieve results that, frankly, other firms don’t. I get settlements for $10 million—you can only get a settlement for $10 million in a case where the other side respects your ability to go ahead and try that case and get a result equal to or greater than that. A settlement, of course, avoids a trial, avoids appeals, and it is our firm’s ability to do that kind of work, I think, that distinguishes us.”
If you have a question about your child’s delivery, or suspect medical negligence on your doctors’ part, please call our top NYC medical malpractice lawyers at (212) 986-7353. Your consultation is free, and if you have a case, we will represent you for no upfront charge, and only take our fees when your child gets justice.