Nurse and Hospital being sued

Mistify · Nov 2, 2006

I just found this on the AJC webpage, just thought I would share it other nurses.

Nurse, hospital sued in baby's death
By BETH WARREN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/02/06
http://www.ajc.com
A new nurse who flunked her board exams was left unsupervised at Atlanta Medical Center to watch over a woman who was about to give birth-with deadly consequences.
The nurse, Romona Duncan, didn't spot warning signs that the baby was in trouble, the baby's parents have alleged in a lawsuit. Newborn Emmanuel Scott, died 13 days later.
Now Emmanuel's parents, Alethia and Niko Scott, are suing Duncan, the hospital and the more experienced nurse who was supposed to supervise Duncan.
In legal documents, attorneys for the hospital, its parent company, Tenet Healthsystem, and the nurses, denied wrongdoing.
The case is scheduled for trial in January in Fulton County State Court, but Judge Diane Bessen recently ordered both sides to try to work out some kind of agreement in mediation, which is expected to begin next week.
The parents are backed by veteran Atlanta obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr. Donald Block, who signed an affidavit saying he believes the baby would have been healthy at birth were it not for the new nurse's substandard care. Block, who reviewed the Scotts' medical records and the baby's autopsy, also singled out veteran nurse Lisa McGhee for not supervising the new nurse, according to court records.
In legal documents, attorneys for the hospital, its parent company, Tenet Healthsystem, and the nurses, denied wrongdoing.
But their lead attorney Daniel Huff expressed sympathy for the Scotts in a prepared statement released this week that reads in part:
"We took this incident very seriously and immediately conducted an internal review and identified several issues that were promptly addressed through education, training and disciplinary action ... This was an isolated event that did not meet our own high standards for patient care and we continue to work diligently to prevent these types of unfortunate outcomes."
According to the complaint, the Scotts allege the following actions led up to their baby's avoidable death. After a normal pregnancy, Alethia Scott, a stay-at-home mom with three healthy kids, and her husband, Niko Scott, then a landscaper, headed to the hospital just after midnight Dec. 3, 2004, excited to welcome little Emmanuel into the world.
The 35-year-old mother , who has a history of pregnancy-related hypertension, was admitted to the labor and delivery ward and was fitted with a monitor continuously checking her baby's vital signs. Duncan, then an unlicensed nurse, took over Scott's care under the watchful eye of McGhee, a registered nurse assigned to act as Duncan's preceptor or mentor. But McGhee later left the room, leaving her trainee to care for the mother.
The fetal monitor showed signs of distress at about 9:25 a.m., with the baby's heart rate continuing to drop for more than an hour. This should have sounded an alarm that an emergency Cesarian section was needed, but Duncan didn't recognize the severity of the warning signs.
Instead, she repositioned the patient on her left side and didn't notify senior nursing staff or doctors of the problem.
Duncan did briefly discuss Alethia Scott's ongoing labor with two doctors but didn't mentioned the baby's slowing heart rate until about 11:30 a.m.-two hours after the first signs the baby was in distress. The doctors were alarmed and quickly performed an ultrasound and, minutes later, a C-section.
But oxygen had been cut off to Emmanuel's brain and he died 13 days later.
Attorney Craig T. Jones, who is representing the family along with Roderick Edmond, wouldn't discuss details of the ongoing case but said the nurses are the ones to blame.
"The doctors did a great job," Jones said. "They just didn't find out until it was too late."
Duncan, who obtaineed her board certification days after the baby's death, resigned from Atlanta Medical Center, but remains in nursing elsewhere, her attorneys said.