Parents are taking legal action against an Orlando hospital, alleging that the medical staff there caused their newborn’s death due to a broken neck.
Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies is facing a lawsuit with accusations that its employees broke a newborn’s neck and attempted to conceal the injury.
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, October 17, reports the incident as occurring in June 2022.
The infant’s mother, Gianna Lopera, delivered her baby girl at 24 weeks of gestation.
Named Jahxy Peets, the premature baby was born via an emergency C-section, immediately intubated, and placed in the NICU for life support.
According to hospital court documents, there was initially no evidence of a birth-related traumatic injury.
However, two weeks later, concerns arose about the baby’s condition.
The neurosurgery department was consulted due to ‘concern for abnormal tone of her upper extremities’. An MRI of the cervical spine was conducted, revealing ‘cord signal abnormality, enlargement, and presumed hemorrhage involving portions of the cervical and thoracic cord’.
The lawsuit states: “To put it simply, Jahxy Peet’s neck had been broken.”
It further argues that such an injury could not occur without excessive force, yet this was not documented in her medical records.
The lawsuit also alleges there was no investigation into identifying and prosecuting those responsible for the injury that resulted in Jahxy’s death.
It reads: “This traumatic event was either not recognized or was not reported, and it appears from the records that an attempt to cover up the cause of Jahxy’s injury was made, as there is no mention of a precipitating event in the medical record.”
Due to Jahxy’s neck injury, she was paralyzed and unable to breathe independently.
The lawsuit reveals she died in November 2022 after spending 165 days in the hospital.
Her parents are accusing the hospital of malpractice that led to Jahxy’s death.
Their attorney, Nicole Kruegel, told McClatchy News: “She wasn’t able to breathe on her own, her organs started shutting down… it was just a very slow death.”
Kruegel further stated: “As far as the parents know, this person who did this could have done it intentionally, or if they did it accidentally, they did it because they don’t know what they’re doing, and they’re still in that NICU handling babies as far as we know.”
The lawsuit asserts: “Her survivors, Gianna Lopera and Jahmiah Peets, have suffered mental pain and suffering which will continue for the rest of their lives.
“They have incurred medical and funeral expenses and have suffered the loss of Jahxy Peets’ love and companionship.”
They argue that the hospital did not inform them in a ‘timely’ manner about the injury being ‘caused by trauma’ or that their daughter had endured a preventable debilitating injury.
The parents also allege that the hospital staff failed to ‘protect’ their newborn from harm, leading to Jahxy’s ‘wrongful death’ as a result of the hospital’s ‘acts or omissions’.
Jahmair Peets, Gianna’s partner, observed a bruise on their daughter’s spine and informed the Daily Mail: “They don’t know why she presented this and unfortunately she can’t move her hands. The hospital also said her neck was swollen and the back of her head all of a sudden.”