Trial Magazine

At 38 weeks gestation, Tequila Sallis went to West Suburban Medical Center in Illinois and told nurse Shelia Walker that she was experiencing decreased fetal movement. Walker placed Sallis, who was previously diagnosed with preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, on an external fetal monitor. This revealed nonreassuring signs, including absent accelerations and minimal variability. Walker disconnected Sallis from the monitor and sent her for a biophysical profile. The ultrasonographer, Olexandra Kolenskyj, delayed the test for more than an hour. Additionally, the test took more than one hour to complete.

When Sallis was placed back on the fetal monitor, the baby’s heart rate had dropped from 120 to 60 bpm. Sallis’s son was then delivered by emergency cesarean section. His Apgar scores were one at one and five minutes. Now 5, he suffers from profound brain damage, resulting in motor delays, speech impairment, visual impairment, and profound intellectual disability. He requires 24-hour care.

Sallis, individually, and her son, through a guardian, sued Walker, Kolenskyj, attending family physician Nathalie McCammon-Chase, and the hospital. The plaintiffs alleged that Walker failed to adequately monitor fetal heart tones, obtain a timely physician assessment, advocate for a C-section, and notify a physician of the fetal distress; Kolenskyj failed to perform a biophysical profile within 30 minutes of the request and took too long to perform the test; and McCammon-Chase failed to come to the hospital to evaluate Sallis and perform a timely delivery.

The jury awarded more than $100.67 million.

Citation: Sallis v. VHS W. Suburban Med. Ctr., Inc., No. 16 L 003989 (Ill. Cir. Ct. Cook Cnty. Nov. 5, 2019).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members Keith A. Hebeisen, Bradley M. Cosgrove, Sarah F. King, and Charles Haskins, all of Chicago.

Plaintiff experts: Lauren Breslow, pediatric neurology, Philadelphia; Peter Doubilet, radiology, Boston; Robert Johnson, economics, Los Altos, Calif.; Ricardo Lastra, pathology, Chicago; Sara Mulkey, pediatric neurology, Washington, D.C.; Donald Null, neonatology, Sacramento, Calif.; Samantha Sawyer, sonography, Evansville, Ind.; Heidi Shin, nursing, Lewis Center, Ohio; Baha Sibai, maternal-fetal medicine, Houston; Gordon Sze, neuroradiology, New Haven, Conn.; and Gary Yarkony, life care planning, Elgin, Ill.

Defense experts: Robert Baade, economics, Lake Bluff, Ill.; Steven Donn, neonatology, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Joel Meyer, neuroradiology, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Kathryn Mussatt, sonography, Chicago; and Lawrence Vogel, life care planning, River Forest, Ill.