MORGANTOWN – A Monongalia County woman is suing the hospital where she delivered her son, claiming it was negligent during the birth of her child and led to life-long developmental issues.
Dr. Richard Kerr; Jann Foley, a nurse practitioner; Women’s Healthcare of Morgantown; Monongalia County General Hospital; West Virginia University Hospitals Inc.; Dr. Tyler Prouty; West Virginia University Board of Governor; and 30 unknown nurses that were employees of WVU Hospitals, MCGH and WVUBOG were all named as defendants in the suit.
On Feb. 2, 2006, Angela Rife Wilson presented to Foley, her obstetrical provider, at Women’s Healthcare of Morgantown, according to the complaint filed in Monongalia Circuit Court.
Foley recognized the serious nature of the problem Wilson was having and advised her to go to MCGH for further evaluation. Wilson was experiencing decreased fetal movement and, once at the hospital, she was placed on the monitor and the fetus was exhibiting significant signs of fetal distress, according to the suit.
Wilson claims shortly thereafter, there were signs that the fetus needed to be delivered on an emergent basis, however, instead of transporting her to the OR for an emergency c-section, Foley and Kerr decided to do a biophysical profile on the child and the BPP demonstrated no fetal movement, no fetal breathing episodes and no extensions/flexions from the fetus.
Foley and Kerr knew that the BPP demonstrate the need for an emergency c-section and delivery of the fetus, according to the suit.
Wilson claims at 2:33 p.m., the decision was made to permit transfer of the patient by private care to WVU Hospitals for further treatment by Dr. Wanda Hembree and Foley noted that it was faster by private car than calling for an ambulance to transfer her.
When Wilson arrived at WVU Hospitals, she was admitted to Labor and Delivery, but it was not until 6:37 p.m. that her emergency c-section was performed and Landon Rife was born and immediately taken to NICU, according to the suit.
Wilson claims Rife had far moro reflexes, no suck reflex, poor gag reflex and fair-to-poor muscle tone without flexion/ He was intubated and placed on a ventilator and remained in NICU for 27 days.
Rife suffered hypoxia while in utero, which led to continuing issues of Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, a stuttering disorder, rage reaction with violent behavior disorder, the development of TICS and pervasive developmental delays that will impact him the rest of his life.
Wilson claims the defendants had a duty under the standard of care to properly assess the patient and fetus and make certain the fetus was delivered in a timely manner and breached that duty.
Wilson is seeking compensatory damages. She is represented by David A. Sims of the Law Office of David A. Sims.
Monongalia Circuit Court case number: 18-C-102
