Lawsuit: 9 doctors failed to warn about dangerous medication during pregnancy
Parents of an 8-year-old boy with developmental delays and epilepsy claim that negligence during pregnancy monitoring caused liver failure in the mother, who gave birth at 30 weeks. They are demanding at least 2.5 million shekels.
A number of doctors failed to warn about a dangerous medication during pregnancy, and as a result, a baby was born prematurely and diagnosed with a lifelong disability — this is what the parents claim in a lawsuit filed at the District Court in Lod. They attribute a "serious organizational defect" to the Maccabi Health Services and claim there was no guiding hand for the pregnancy monitoring, as each doctor addressed only the specific problem that came before them, without seeing the overall picture.
This was the mother's fourth pregnancy. At the very beginning, she was diagnosed with Graves' disease — which affects thyroid function — and began treatment with the drug PTU, which is limited to use only in the first trimester of pregnancy. However, according to the parents, in practice, she continued to take the medication throughout the entire second trimester and part of the third, since not one of the pregnancy monitoring doctors told her to stop.
Through attorney Yaron Moyal, the mother claims that in the 16th week of her pregnancy, one of the doctors instructed her: "Do not stop PTU!". According to her, throughout the entire pregnancy, nine doctors examined her, none of whom "knew or checked the restrictions on the use of this drug during pregnancy, and the required monitoring." It is claimed that this is a drug that can endanger life, without the plaintiff being aware of its consequences, and she continued to receive incorrect, dangerous, and strictly prohibited medication treatment.
In the 30th week of pregnancy, the woman was hospitalized with severe and life-threatening liver failure, and with a diagnosis of drug-induced liver poisoning. Although she was discharged after a few days, after only a few hours she returned with complaints of bleeding and contractions, and she gave birth by cesarean section prematurely. The baby, who was born weighing only 1.6 kg, was rushed to the NICU while on a ventilator, and was discharged only after more than a month.
Today, their son (8) studies in special education and suffers from developmental delay, attention disorders, epilepsy, and mental disorders. According to experts on behalf of the prosecution, his functioning is appropriate for the age of 34 months, and his medical disability is about 95% for life. It is claimed that he will have difficulty leading an independent life, including finding a partner in the future and starting a family.
The lawsuit claims that this is medical malpractice, because if the medical monitoring had been carried out as required, the mother would have received an instruction to stop the PTU treatment, and the damage to her liver could have been avoided. It was clarified that medical literature links liver failure to premature birth, and hence the causal link between the negligence and the damage exists. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs attribute to the pregnancy monitoring doctors a kind of negligence that led to the damage.
"There was no guiding and coordinating hand for the pregnancy monitoring," it was written in the lawsuit. "It seems that no one saw themselves as the woman's doctor, but as a kind of substitute." The parents conclude that "it is heartbreaking to witness the very low level of medicine in the case in question, which was below the required medical standard, in a medical situation that could endanger the life of the mother and her fetus. It was a pregnancy management with continuous negligence by all parties."
They are asking to compel "Maccabi" to pay compensation of at least 2.5 million shekels for their damages. From Maccabi Health Services it was stated: "After investigation, the statement of claim has not yet been received at Maccabi and therefore we will not be able to comment."
