Repeated Use Of Vacuum In Delivery Led To Baby's Death, Lawsuit Claims

GREENWICH, CT — The parents of a baby who died approximately 24 hours after being born have filed a lawsuit against Greenwich Hospital and an obstetrician, claiming the repeated use of a vacuum to assist in the delivery process led to the newborn's death.

Filed in Bridgeport Superior Court in July by parents Danielle Mackenzie and Fabrice Diaz, the lawsuit claims negligence and recklessness, and also names Yale New Haven Health Services and Summit Health Services.

According to the lawsuit, Mackenzie, who was 40 weeks and three days pregnant, was admitted to Greenwich Hospital in the early morning of Feb. 17 for the delivery of her baby by her obstetrician, Dr. Jay Matut.

Later that day shortly after 8 p.m., Mackenzie was fully dilated and she was instructed to start pushing.

"After approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes of pushing, Dr. Matut made the decision that he needed to expedite the delivery and recommended to the infant-plaintiff decedent's mother she undergo a vacuum-assisted delivery," the lawsuit claims.

For approximately 30 minutes, Matut applied and released the vacuum to the baby's head 12 times with pop-offs, the lawsuit claims.

Mackenzie was instructed to push on her own, and after 36 minutes, Matut reapplied and released the vacuum another three times at least, the lawsuit claims, noting an episiotomy was cut for the baby to be delivered at approximately 10:58 p.m.

Upon birth, the baby "had no cry, poor color, poor tone, poor Apgar scores, was limp, and was bradycardic," the lawsuit claims.

There was also swelling of the baby's head consistent with a subgaleal hemorrhage, and he was immediately taken to the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in critical condition, the lawsuit said, and his condition "continued to progressively deteriorate."

Early in the morning on Feb. 18, the baby was taken via ambulance to Yale New Haven Hospital's NICU where he was pronounced dead a few hours later due to "hemorrhagic hypovolemic shock caused by a massive subgaleal hematoma," according to the lawsuit.

A spokesperson for Summit Health Services declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.

"Greenwich Hospital is aware of this lawsuit and is committed to providing the safest and highest quality of care possible," said Dana Marnane, director of public relations and communications for Yale New Haven Health and the vice president of public relations for Greenwich Hospital, in an emailed statement to Patch. "While we are unable to comment on pending litigation, we have offered our deepest condolences to the family."

The lawsuit claims the fatal injuries suffered by the baby were "caused by the failure of the defendant, Greenwich Hospital, through its agents, apparent agents, servants and/or employees, including, but not limited to, its obstetricians and gynecologists and/or labor and delivery nurses, including, but not limited to, Jay Matut, M.D., to exercise reasonable care under all of the circumstances then and there present."

Matut used the vacuum "inappropriately" and failed to abandon it, the lawsuit claims.

Further, the lawsuit claims Matut ignored "the maternal request for a cesarean section," and failed to "consider or understand that the fetus was at a substantially increased risk of harm after three pulls and/or greater than 15 minutes of application time during the delivery."

A physician's opinion associated with the lawsuit says the parties involved "departed from the standard of care in their treatment of the plaintiff mother," and that they "violated numerous practice guidelines, product manual instructions, and acted with disregard to the infant's well-being."

Mackenzie and Diaz are claiming money and punitive damages.