Daryl L. Zaslow Obtains Recovery Valued at $22,960,220 – $35,889,683 in a Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy Birth Injury Case
Daryl L. Zaslow of Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow, LLP obtained a $15,000,000 settlement on behalf of a 7-year-old girl with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and her family. A portion of the settlement is being used to purchase annuities, which will result in guaranteed total payments to the Plaintiffs of $13,002,240 and anticipated payments to the Plaintiffs of $28,191,700, making the total value of the settlement between $22,960,220 – $35,889,683. This settlement appears to be tied for the second largest settlement ever reported in a birth injury case venued in New Jersey. Mr. Zaslow also represented the Plaintiffs in the largest reported recovery in a birth injury case venued in New Jersey.
The terms of the settlement were recently approved by Court. The case was settled following mediation before The Honorable Joseph P. Quinn, J.S.C. (Ret.). Mr. Zaslow was assisted in the litigation by Ethan Lillianthal, Esq.
The infant Plaintiff’s mother was 25 years old when she became pregnant in 2019. She presented to the Defendant Hospital on August 5, 2019, with ruptured membranes. During her labor and delivery, she was cared for by several defendant obstetricians, residents and labor and delivery nurses. Although the fetal heart rate tracings and contractions were originally reassuring, Mr. Zaslow and his experts maintained that the uterine contractions were not being accurately measured or assessed and were occurring too frequently. Uterine contractions occurring at a rate greater than 5 in a 10-minute segment is known as uterine hyperstimulation or tachysystole, which should be avoided or treated as it can have a detrimental effect of placental perfusion and oxygenation to the fetus by not allowing sufficient re-oxygenation of the fetus between uterine contractions. Prolonged tachysystole has been shown to have a cumulative negative effect on fetal oxygenation status and can lead to depletion of fetal reserves necessary to protect the fetus from harm during the course of labor. Mr. Zaslow maintained that uterine tachysystole continued to be present throughout the remainder of the mother’s labor.
Mr. Zaslow and Plaintiffs’ experts maintained that over the course of several hours, the Defendants failed to appreciate evidence of a hostile uterine environment and fetal distress on the electronic fetal monitoring which should have prompted a call for an emergency Cesarean section. Instead, the Plaintiff was not born until 8:41 a.m. the following morning.
Plaintiffs’ experts opined that the failure to perform a timely delivery in the presence of prolonged tachysystole and the delay in calling for an emergency Cesarean section resulted in the infant sustaining both partial prolonged and acute hypoxic ischemic injuries before her birth which left her with significant brain damage.