An infant brain injury has led to a lawsuit being filed against the University of Maryland in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on Sept. 5, 2017.

Plaintiffs Crystal H. and Ryan B, mother and father of P.B., the child that allegedly suffered infant brain injury, are accusing the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center Foundation Inc. of negligence in postponing cesarean section with clear signs of fetal distress present. Both parents are California residents.

According to Law360, P.B. is a toddler currently incapable of developmental tasks associated with her chronological age. Because of her infant brain injury, she experiences seizures and is fed by a tube. Her formal diagnosis is spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

In the legal documentation of the infant brain injury lawsuit, the mother and father allege that the medical staff at St. Joseph Medical Center were lackadaisical in their care during P.B.’s birth.

While monitoring equipment suggested the infant might be suffering from a lack of oxygen and a compromised umbilical cord the pivotal cause, the parents suggest that their requests for cesarean section went unheard.

According to the legal narrative, the mother was hooked to fetal monitoring equipment forty minutes after presenting in labor the night before the delivery. The first indication of heart rate deceleration occurred at that time, but more concerning were the persistent deep variable and late decelerations beginning around 6:30 am the next morning.

These signs were very clearly pointing to possible infant hypoxia and compression of the umbilical cord, but cesarean section was not done until 9:21 a.m., the parents claim. The baby was born pale and limp and made no effort to breathe of her own accord.

Upon her delivery, P.B. gave evidence of her prenatal lack of air and resultant infant brain injury immediately. She was rushed to the University of Maryland Medical Center and, upon testing, diagnosed at that time with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

P.B. was born on November 22, 2014 and the injury sustained to her brain has proven to be permanent, according to her parents.

The plaintiffs are bringing the following counts against the defendant University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center Foundation Inc.: Count One – Negligence, Medical Team and Hospital; Count Two –Crystal H.’s Individual Claim for Compensatory Damages; and Count Three – Ryan B.’s Individual Claim for Compensatory Damages.

The couple is asking for a trial by jury and compensation of more than $75,000 together in count one and $75,000 each in count two and three as determined by the court.

They are claiming that they have together and individually suffered and will continue to suffer enormous financial setbacks in the form of medical and hospital bills and lost wages due to time spent in care of their compromised child.

They are also claiming to have suffered along with P.B., mental anguish and emotional pain and suffering.

The Infant Brain Injury Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-02528-JFM in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.