Birth Injury Lawyer

A Bannock county jury is deliberating a civil case involving a former Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center inmate and the 2004 birth of her son. The plaintiff is suing Prison Health Services, Inc. for medical negligence and for violating her and her son’s eighth amendment rights. The eighth amendment outlaws cruel and unusual punishment and requires adequate medical care for inmates.
When the inmate was seven months pregnant, she complained of severe abdominal pain, but the prison infirmary nurse did not send her to the hospital. Instead, the inmate was kept in an infirmary cell for 11 hours, during which she was in pre-term labor. Still hours later, no ambulance had been called, but the inmate was to be taken to the hospital in a prison van. On the way out to the van, the inmate delivered her baby onto the cold concrete outside the prison. The baby, placenta and umbilical cord were then run-over by the wheelchair carrying the inmate. The guards picked up the baby, placenta and umbilical cord and returned inside the prison.

During this time, the plaintiff is alleging that her son did not receive enough oxygen to his brain and that this caused him to develop Periventricular Leukomalacia or PVL. PVL, a permanent brain injury, is common in premature babies and often leads to Cerebral Palsy and other neurological disorders.

If your child has suffered physical or mental complications as a result of a birth injury, contact the birth injury lawyers of Williams Kherkher at  866.950.9000.