Mum Files Lawsuit Against Hospital After She Accidentally Smothered Her Baby

A mother has filed a lawsuit against a hospital after she accidentally smothered her newborn son due to a cocktail of painkillers that the hospital gave her, making her drowsy.

Monica Thompson, 42, says she was “still drowsy and groggy” from the different drugs given to her three days after giving birth to her son, Jacob, via C-section, and was brought into her hospital room in the middle of the night to breastfeed in August 2012.

In a lawsuit, published by The Washington Post, Mrs Thompson claims that she was left alone without supervision and woke up some time later with her baby unresponsive in her arms. She said she tried to wake Jacob then called for a nurse, but none came. So, Mrs Thompson said she carried her son to the hallway and cried for help.

“A nurse noticed the situation, examined Jacob and called a Code Blue,” according to the lawsuit.

Medical staff then performed “painful” CPR on Jacob, however, the baby had been starved of oxygen for too long and has already suffered permanent brain damage, Mrs Thompson’s lawyers said.

Six days later, Jacob died.

Now, the family is seeking $US8 million in damages from the Portland Adventist Medical Center over Jacob’s death — more than $US2million for Jacob’s estate and over $US6million for the “severe emotional distress” Mrs Thompson has suffered.

Mrs Thompson’s lawyer, Diego Conde, described Jacob’s death as “senseless”. “A hospital doesn’t get to load a breastfeeding mother with narcotics and sleep aids, drop a newborn child on the same bed to breastfeed, and abandon them to their luck,” Conde was reported as saying.

Jacob’s family has made the move so that no other family will experience the same fate as theirs. “Jacob was a true miracle baby. My firstborn and only son. I am sharing our story in the hopes that no mother or family will ever have to suffer through a preventable tragedy such as this,” the Thompson family said in a statement.

Source: News.com.au