Smathers sues HCA for 'egregious' medical negligence during son's birth
A Canton woman has filed a lawsuit against Hospital Corporation of America in which she claims “egregious acts of medical and corporate negligence” during the birth of her son led to his suffering a permanent hypoxic brain injury that will allegedly leave him to deal with cerebral palsy and “associated delays and disabilities” for the rest of his life.
The suit notes that the hospital also “knowingly and intentionally" decided to "place profits over patient safety by reducing the number of surgical teams working and available at the hospital or on call overnight.”
On March 19, 2020, Ashley Smathers was admitted to Mission Hospital’s labor and delivery unit in anticipation of the birth of her son, Stone.
Ashley, wife of Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers, was an otherwise healthy 32-year-old woman and had experienced a normal pregnancy but labored unsuccessfully for almost two hours.
According to the suit, Stone’s fetal heart monitor began to show “increasingly concerning signs” of distress consistent with a lack of adequate oxygen supply.
A c-section was ordered by Ashley’s attending physician; however, that didn’t happen for nearly five hours, the suit says.
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The suit goes on to allege that the accepted standards of care required Mission to “complete this c-section order as soon as possible and within 30 minutes,” and that Mission’s gross negligence and reckless disregard for patient safety caused permanent injuries.
“She lost at least ten liters of blood on the operating table,” the suit reads, describing a litany of horrors the family endured during their son’s March 2020 birth.
Subsequently, a surgical team was “forced to perform an emergency hysterectomy to save her life,” a procedure that “robbed her of ever being able to naturally bear another child again.”
HCA has been the target of frequent lawsuits in recent months and has been the subject of especially intense scrutiny over its $1.5 billion deal to purchase Mission Hospital, along with five community hospitals.
The suit calls for damages in excess of $25,000, which is the minimum amount needed to move the case to Superior Court, although it’s likely that the actual damages being sought will be much higher.
This is a developing story. Check back with Smoky Mountain News in our next issue, online and on newsstands Sept. 28, for updates. News Editor Kyle Perrotti contributed reporting.
