A California couple is suing the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center, citing the cerebral palsy birth injury of their child.

Plaintiffs Crystal H. and the father of her child, Ryan B., have filed a cerebral palsy birth injury lawsuit against the hospital at which she gave birth to their child in November 2014.

According to their birth injury lawsuit, on Nov. 21, 2014, Crystal was admitted to the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center because she had gone into labor. She was 38 weeks pregnant and reported that 24 hours before admission, her membranes had ruptured.

Soon after she was admitted to the hospital, she was hooked up to a fetal monitor to assess the baby’s health. The fetal monitor showed the baby’s heart rate was decelerating.

According to this cerebral palsy birth injury lawsuit, at 12:45 in the morning, over two hours after she had been admitted to the hospital, a nurse checked Crystal’s labor progress by a vaginal examination. Crystal was dilated to five centimeters, and the baby was at a negative one station.

Five hours later at 4:59 am, Crystal had only progressed to six centimeters of dilation and zero station. Her doctor administered Pitocin, a drug to induce contractions.

Her cerebral palsy birth injury lawsuit alleges that around 6:30 that morning, “the fetal monitor strips began showing persistent deep variable decelerations and persistent late decelerations (a worrisome sign indicative of hypoxia and cord compression).”

Even with the lack of progression of her labor and possible complications with the baby, Crystal claims that no doctor or nurse suggested a cesarean section surgery.

By 7:20 that morning, the baby’s baseline rose to a level that suggested tachycardia, a sign of fetal hypoxia. The decelerations on the fetal monitor strip showed persistent and deep drops in the heart rate of the baby.

The next doctor that became her primary provider did not look at the progress of the baby nor did he discuss performing an emergency c-section surgery. At approximately 8:00 in the morning, the doctor came to visit Crystal, and about ten minutes later she began to push.

She claims in this cerebral palsy birth injury lawsuit that at 8:21 in the morning, she requested an emergency c-section. The doctor did not perform one even though the baby had been in distress for approximately two hours, she claims.

It wasn’t until nearly 9:00 am that she was taken into an operating room to have an emergency c-section. She claims the operating room staff showed no sense of urgency in performing the c-section.

When the baby was delivered, the cerebral palsy birth injury lawsuit states, the baby was “limp, flaccid, and pale with a heart rate of 90.” Crystal claims there was no “respiratory effort” and tests showed obvious findings of labor hypoxia and asphyxia.

This cerebral palsy birth injury lawsuit claims that within two hours of birth, the baby was transported to the University of Maryland where she was diagnosed with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

The baby is now 2 ½ years old and suffers from a variety of health issues including spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. Crystal holds the hospital and attending doctors responsible for her daughter’s condition.

This Cerebral Palsy Birth Injury Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-02528-JFM in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.