On February 18, 2022, a West Virginia Winchester Circuit Court jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant OBGYN doctor who was alleged to have been negligent in delivering a baby on December 1, 2015, during which the forceps-assisted delivery fractured the newborn’s facial bones and injured his left eye.

The West Virginia Birth Injury malpractice jury deliberated for about 50 minutes before determining that the defendant, Dr. George F. Craft II, who has been delivering babies since 1988, was not liable for medical negligence in the birth of William Greyson Clements. The now-6-year-old boy sustained facial bone fractures and left eye damage during the 30-minute, forceps delivery.

The original birth injury lawsuit that was filed in 2019 alleged that the defendant, an obstetrician and gynecologist employed by Winchester Women’s Specialists P.C. at the time he delivered the baby at Winchester Medical Center, failed to obtain the informed consent of the mother by failing to advise her regarding the risks involving forceps delivery and failing to advise her of alternative methods of delivery such as performing a Cesarean section delivery. However, the lack of informed consent claim was abandoned by the plaintiff prior to the five-day trial that began on February 14, 2022.

The plaintiff’s West Virginia Birth injury lawyer argued in closing arguments that the defendant negligently failed to allow the plaintiff more time to keep pushing so that she could deliver her baby vaginally without the use of forceps, arguing that the defendant’s actions violated The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ guidelines that call for allowing a mother to push for at least three hours: “You have to know exactly where the baby is and where the forceps are. If you’re not absolutely sure where the forceps are, you don’t do anything.”

The defense attorney argued to the jury that the baby was stuck in the birth canal, he needed to be removed, the mother allegedly did not want a Cesarean section, and the circumstances required the use of forceps to safely deliver the baby: “He hoped to give her what she wanted: a vaginal delivery. Forceps techniques can and will cause injuries even when properly placed.”

The baby was required to wear an eye patch and had to wear contact lenses. His injuries will require that he either have corrective surgery at some point or wear contact lenses or eyeglasses for the rest of his life.

Source

If you or your baby suffered a birth injury (or worse) during labor and/or delivery or shortly after birth in West Virginia or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a West Virginia Birth Injury lawyer (West Virginia medical malpractice lawyer), or a birth injury lawyer in your state, who may investigate your birth injury claim for you and represent you and your child in a birth injury medical malpractice case, if appropriate.

Click on the “Contact Us Now” tab to the right, visit our website, or call us toll-free in the United States at 800-295-3959 to find birth injury attorneys in your state who may assist you.

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