Newborn baby dropped, receives unauthorized ultrasound

The birth of a baby in Louisiana should be a joyous occasion, and many parents preserve the memory through video recording. However, one father in Arizona ended up recording a nightmare scenario when the doctor who was delivering his twin daughters accidentally dropped one of them. Another staffer prevented the newborn from falling on the floor by catching her but was unable to prevent the infant from hitting her head on the table.

Hospital staff later performed an ultrasound on the newborn that revealed a condition of bleeding in the brain known as a germinal matrix hemorrhage. The condition may not have been the result of the dropping incident as it occurs with some frequency in children born prematurely, as the twins were. However, the parents did not give consent about the ultrasound and did not even learn about it until six weeks thereafter.

The baby has since developed shaking about which her parents plan for her to receive a neurological evaluation. Nevertheless, there is no immediate concern regarding her health, and she is home with her twin sister and the rest of her family.

The parents reportedly neither expected nor demanded anything more from the doctor and/or hospital than an apology, but have thus far received none. The doctor said nothing when the father confronted him with the video, and the hospital has not only not apologized, it has publicly shared the video against the parents’ wishes, for reasons that remain unclear.

The father of the twins has expressed anger over the incident, as any parent reasonably would. Parents of children who have sustained birth injuries due to a mistake by a physician may find it helpful to seek counsel from an attorney.