February 6, 2023
Attorney Matzus is currently pursuing a birth injury malpractice case on behalf of parents whose twins failed to receive required antenatal testing resulting in one baby’s death and the other baby being born with a profound brain injury that will require lifelong medical care as the child will never be able to live independently.
The case is filed against All About Women Health Associates in Weirton, West Virginia, and Weirton Medical Center as well as a physician at Allegheny Perinatal Associates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The mother had a monochorionic-diamniotic twin pregnancy. Monochorionic-diamniotic twins result from the product of a single fertilized egg, resulting in genetically identical babies. These twins share a single placenta (blood supply) but have separate amniotic sacs. Beginning at 32 weeks of gestation, the standard of care requires that the mother undergo weekly antepartum fetal testing, consisting of once-weekly Biophysical Profiles (BPP) and twice-weekly Non-Stress Tests (NST). Performing these tests significantly reduces the risk of fetal death and related complications.
The maternal-fetal medicine specialist, who was co-managing the mother’s pregnancy, ordered that the correct testing be performed. However, during a critical period of time before delivery, neither the obstetrician nor maternal-fetal medicine physician performed any of the required antepartum testing that the mother should have received. Both physicians failed to make sure that the testing that was previously ordered was actually performed.
When the mother presented for a prenatal appointment, one of the babies, was dead. And, as a result of the fetal death of the one monochorionic-diamniotic twin, the surviving twin sustained catastrophic brain damage. Had the required antenatal testing been performed, both babies would have been born healthy.