NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 01/17/13 -- The New York medical malpractice attorneys at the law firm of Fitzgerald & Fitzgerald have been representing clients who have been injured as a result of substandard and negligent medical care since the firm opened in 1971. The attorneys at the firm handle cases involving medical negligence, birth injury, autism and cerebral palsy diagnoses among others. The firm hereby announces that it has secured a $3.25 million verdict against a defendant hospital on behalf of an infant plaintiff.

Specifically, this New York medical malpractice lawsuit was filed in the Kings County Supreme Court and it was assigned a case number of A02078. The claim was based on an allegation that the defendant failed to properly monitor preterm labor and delivery and that the defendant failed to respond to the signs of cord compression and/or ischemia. The court documents stated that these alleged failures led to global developmental delays, brain damage and right eye esotropia.

According to the court documents, the mother of the plaintiff infant reported to the defendant hospital at 32 weeks into her pregnancy complaining of vaginal bleeding and lower abdominal pressure. She was told that her placenta had moved and the bleeding continued for more than four hours. The next morning, the mother's water broke and she was given medication when it was discovered that there was membrane leakage.

The mother was placed on an external monitor, and the court documents further stated that four days later she went into delivery. She requested a vaginal delivery and it was granted despite fetal heart tracing, fetal tachycardia, lack of beat-to-beat variability and terminal bradycardia. The mother developed a membrane infection as labor continued.

The court documents further state that on the following morning, the plaintiff infant was born with the umbilical cord tightly around its neck. The child had what the court documents described as very low Apgar scores and that the infant suffered severe perinatal asphyxia hypoxic ischemic injury or hypoxic insult.

The attorneys at Fitzgerald & Fitzgerald successfully argued that the defendants departed from generally good and accepted medical practice by failing to (1) monitor preterm labor and delivery; (2) respond to the signs of cord compression and/or ischemia; (2) react to fetal distress, lack of beat-to-beat variability and terminal bradycardia; (3) timely diagnose and treat acute chorioamnionitis; (4) prevent exposure to infection in the womb; (4) diagnose and treat placental dysfunction; (4) suggest/perform cesarean section; and (5) adequately treat infant plaintiff's bilateral hemorrhage.

About Fitzgerald & Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald & Fitzgerald is a law firm comprised of New York medical malpractice lawyers who have been representing clients harmed by the negligence of medical professionals overseeing births since the firm's inception in 1971. The attorneys at the firm handle New York birth injury cases, New York medical malpractice cases, New York cerebral palsy cases, New York personal injury cases, auto accident cases and other types of litigation matters that involve injuries inflicted upon individuals who need legal help.