BATON ROUGE – A local medical center and doctor are being sued over the death of a newborn baby.
Mary Shanti Pampana and Manoj Manda filed suit against The Baton Rouge General Medical Center and Dr. Amanda W. Pearson in the 19th Judicial District Court on April 16.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff, Pampana, went into labor on Nov. 10, 2011, at the Baton Rouge Medical Center an at 11:30 p.m. A couple of minutes later, the heart monitor showed that the baby was in distress, according to the lawsuit. However, the plaintiffs claim the nursing staff did not notify Pearson. In fact, the plaintiff claims she was forced to take a break from pushing because the hospital did not have the adequate staff to attend to her..
The plaintiffs claim that at 12:45 a.m., the fetal heart tone was 130-140 beats per minute, which is normal, but the nursing staff reported to Pearson that the plaintiff was not pushing effectively. Pearson was allegedly later notified that the baby's heart rate dropped into the 60s at which time she instructed nursing staff to prepare the plaintiff for immediate delivery with forceps at the bedside.
At 1:42 a.m., the plaintiff delivered a male infant by vaginal delivery and Pearson allegedly noticed that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck. At 2:40 a.m., the plaintiff's son was pronounced dead, according to the lawsuit.
The defendants are accused of failing to properly monitor the plaintiff and her unborn child, failing to timely and accurately communicate the condition of the plaintiff, failing to maintain proper staff levels and failing to timely begin resuscitation efforts.
An unspecified amount in damages is sought for medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of wages and court fees.
Attorneys Malcolm J. Dugas and Rusty M. Messer of Donaldsonville are representing the plaintiffs.
This case has been assigned to Division I Judge R. Michael Caldwell.
Case no. 638,622.