Romanucci & Blandin settles $1 million case against Chicago-area teaching hospital for death of infant boy

Romanucci & Blandin, LLC a national personal injury firm primarily based in Chicago announces a $1 million settlement for the death of an infant boy at a Chicago-area teaching hospital. The plaintiff was represented by Partner Joseph Kolar and others of Romanucci & Blandin. The settlement is  against a Chicago-area teaching hospital and a local radiology group on behalf of a family whose son died shortly after birth from complications of an undiagnosed congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).  Attorneys Kolar and others contended that the CDH should have been identified during a structural survey ultrasound performed on the mother at the 20-week mark of her pregnancy.  The baby was born at the Chicago-area teaching hospital and the delivering obstetrician and pediatric staff did not have knowledge of the CDH.   

CDH is a defect in an unborn baby's diaphragm, the muscle that divides the chest cavity and abdominal cavity. CDH occurs when the diaphragm does not fully close during the baby's development and abdominal organs push through the defect into the chest cavity.  Had the CDH been diagnosed before birth, the delivery team would have been alerted of this condition, immediately intubated the baby and then placed the baby on a heart-lung bypass machine called ECMO until the baby was stable enough to have surgery to repair the CDH.  By the time the CDH was diagnosed after birth, the baby suffered a brain injury from inadequate oxygen and then died at two days old. 

Defendants in the case contended that the CDH was not clearly shown on the ultrasound and that even if the CDH was diagnosed before birth, the baby would have died anyway because of the CDH and heart and lung abnormalities.

To learn more about legal options when someone has an untimely diagnosis or a failure to diagnose a medical condition, please visit our website and https://www.rblaw.net/practices-untimely-or-failure-to-diagnose.