Woman Suffers Massive Blood Loss, Organ Failure … Claims West Boca Medical Center To Blame.
BY: LITIGATION DESK | BocaNewsNow.com
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2023 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — West Boca Medical Center, owned by Tenet Healthcare, is facing a medical malpractice lawsuit filed by a woman who claims she suffered massive blood loss and organ failure due to the incompetence of her delivery team.
Kimberly Nathan, in the suit, says she “presented to Defendant West Boca Medical Center for induction of labor due to advanced maternal age” on January 22, 2022. The suit claims the following items are facts: “The labor appeared to be progressing well. At 9 p.m., with labor and delivery nurse Kristen Ryan, RN and Obstetrician Masha Sachenko, MD, at bedside, Mrs. Nathan began to push. At 9:30 p.m., variable decelerations were noted and Mrs. Nathan’s Pitocin was stopped. The emergency bell was activated and the NICU team was called to the room with a plan for a vacuum assist delivery for fetal indication.”
“At 9:32 p.m., Nurse Ryan documented that Mrs. Nathan stated that she did not feel good and was lightheaded and Dr. Sachenko encouraged her to breathe deeply and use her non-rebreather. At 9:39 p.m., a Kiwi vacuum was applied by Dr. Sachenko, which resulted in three pop-offs over the course of one minute.”
“Dr. Sachenko changed to a mushroom vacuum at 9:43 p.m. and the baby was delivered at 9:45 p.m. At 9:46 p.m. Mrs. Nathan’s blood pressure was recorded to be 121/63. At 10:01 p.m., Mrs. Nathan’s blood pressure had dropped to 92/48. At 10:08 p.m., Mrs. Nathan reported that she did not feel well, was lightheaded, and the tip of her tongue was numb. A nurse noted that her uterus was firm during fundal massage and expressed copious amounts of blood and multiple large clots, which prompted the nurse to call Dr. Sachenko to the room.”
“The delivery team spent over 30 minutes in the labor and delivery room attempting to identify and stop the bleeding, including Nurse Ryan administering 1000mg of tranexamic acid at 10:36 p.m., but were unsuccessful. At 10:40 p.m., the decision was finally made to transfer Mrs. Nathan to the OR for better visualization. The procedure to repair the posterior cervical laceration was started at 10:50 p.m. and took approximately five hours. Despite massive blood loss, the first unit of packed red blood cells was not administered until 11:33 p.m.”
The emergency care continued for hours. According to the suit: “During the five-hour repair, Mrs. Nathan received a total of 17 units of blood products, was intubated by anesthesia, had a central line placed and suffered a quantitative blood loss of 5724 ml, not including substantial, immeasurable blood loss on the floor. As a direct and proximate result of the negligent care and treatment by Defendant, Mrs. Nathan sustained multi-system organ failure and has been left with debilitating injuries including adrenal insufficiencies, panhypopituitarism, Sheehan syndrome, stage 4 chronic kidney disease, and cognitive deficits. The injuries and losses are permanent and will require future care and treatment.”
West Boca Medical Center has not responded to the complaint through public filings. The suit seeks in excess of $50,000. Mrs. Nathan is represented by Attorney Gary Fox of Stewart Tilghman Fox Bianchi and Cain in Miami.
