EAST ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn cleared obstetrician Kallie Harrison on June 9 of negligence in a delivery, finding she didn’t deviate from the standard of care.
He found she testified credibly at bench trial in March.
“The eyewitness testimony and video in this case were very informative,” he wrote.
McGlynn found a procedure that follows accepted standards might not yield a favorable outcome.
“That does not establish or constitute evidence of a deviation from the standard of care,” he wrote.
Although the action involved allegations of Dionne Davis, mother of O.D. Davis, against Harrison, neither stood trial as a party.
The United States defended the action because it employed Harrison through Southern Illinois Health Care Foundation.
Regions Bank pursued the action as guardian of Davis’s child.
Harrison currently works for Mercy Hospital in St. Louis County.
The health care foundation employed her at Touchette Memorial Hospital in 2016, when she delivered Davis’s sixth child.
Davis sued the U.S. in 2019, claiming Harrison caused a shoulder dystocia injury and damaged nerves that controlled movement and sensation in the infant's shoulder, arm, and hand.
She also sued Touchette hospital, and they reached a settlement.
In February, Davis substituted Regions Bank as plaintiff.
The child, O.D. in the record, briefly attended trial.
McGlynn described him as somewhat shy with an obviously damaged right arm.
He found O.D. was home schooled with a teacher from his family’s school district.
“Shoulder dystocia is unpredictable and viewed as an obstetrical emergency because after five to seven minutes, the baby could lose blood flow and oxygen,” he wrote.
McGlynn found all obstetricians need to prepare to respond to the emergency and manage it.
Davis’s husband, Ou’Mara Davis, and her sister-in-law, Melanie Fort, were in the delivery room, and Fort took video.
Harrison testified that once she delivered O.D.’s head, his shoulder and the rest of him delivered very quickly.
She testified she didn’t use dystocia maneuvers because, “There was no shoulder dystocia.”
She testified that she used the normal amount of pulling or application of traction that is required to deliver in the usual fashion.
She added that she stood throughout the delivery.
Nurse Michelle Jackson testified she didn’t recall Harrison saying anything about dystocia, and she would have documented it if Harrison had identified it.
Jackson described the delivery as normal.
The government’s expert, Leonard Zamore, concluded that O.D.’s injury occurred due to natural causes, and he couldn’t rule out genetics.
Dionne Davis and Fort alleged a plunger or vacuum device was used.
Ou’Mara Davis described Harrison tugging and pulling with a device for a few minutes.
Dionne Davis said Harrison sat during most of the delivery, Fort said she sat much of the time, and Ou’Mara Davis said she sat and later stood.
During closing arguments, the bank’s counsel, David Cates of Swansea, tried to combine deposition testimony of Harrison and the bank’s neurology expert into proof beyond reasonable doubt.
He claimed Harrison admitted negligence and the bank’s expert confirmed it.
McGlynn found flaws in that claim and in key elements of the bank’s case.
He found Ou’Mara Davis described tugging and pulling but contradicted himself by admitting he couldn’t see Harrison’s hands because his view was blocked.
He found Ou’Mara Davis was confused, and his credibility suffered.
McGlynn found Fort insisted that Harrison used a plunger on O.D.’s head even though the bank conceded that she likely did not.
He added that Fort’s video “indicated a quick, easy delivery, not the obstetrical emergency that happens with a persistent shoulder dystocia.”
McGlynn found the video showed no stool or chair in the room.
He rejected Cates’s assertion that Harrison admitted negligence.
“Dr. Harrison did not admit to applying excessive traction,” he wrote.
McGlynn found she stated excessive traction would be required to cause injury.
He added that she stated she used a normal amount of traction to deliver O.D. in the usual fashion.
“In sum, the court did not find this exchange as enlightening as counsel did,” he wrote.
He found the bank ignored the fact that birth involves a baby twisting through the birth canal and the concurrent presence of the forces of labor.
“These concurrent forces from different directions all place tension on the brachial plexus nerve,” he wrote.
“Genetic predisposition may also play a part,” he added.
“Regions did not present sufficient proof to discount the impact of endogenous forces or genetics in this case,” he continued.