Newborn’s Decapitation at Birth Prompts Malpractice Lawsuit
Missouri Couple Sues Doctors, Pregnancy Clinic After Botched Birth
By
William Browning | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Fri, Oct 12, 2012
A Missouri couple filed a lawsuit Sept. 28 against four defendants for a birth gone horribly wrong. The New York Daily News reports Friday that Arteisha Betts and Travis Ammonette of Florissant, Mo., claim their newborn son, Kaden Travis Ammonette, died while in the birth canal. The baby's head was allegedly
decapitated from its neck when the doctor tried pulling the baby out of the birth canal.
* The media report claims court documents reveal Dr. Susan Moore told the couple in February 2011 their baby would have to be born with a Caesarian section because his abdomen was too large. The delivering doctor allegedly refused to perform a Caesarian and instead chose for a vaginal birth. The attending doctor, Gilbert Webb, then supposedly did not allow the couple to go to another hospital.
*
Courthouse News Service states Betts and Ammonette went to St. John's Mercy Hospital on March 22, 2011, when the mother started having contractions. She was 28 weeks and five days into her pregnancy.
* The lawsuit alleges Kaden's head came out normally, but the abdomen got stuck in the birth canal. The doctor then allegedly tried traction on the baby's head and then the head became separated from the cervical spine.
* The story gets worse. At the point, the plaintiffs say blood from the baby's neck splattered into the labor and delivery room in plain sight of the mother and father. The couple then claims the doctor did the unthinkable --Webb supposedly pushed the baby back into the uterus and ordered an emergency Caesarian section.
* To make matters even more disgusting, the couple claims Webb then started performing the emergency procedure on the mother before she was sedated. This caused Betts "significant physical pain and suffering," according to Courthouse News Service's reading of the complaint.
* The New York Daily News article shows a picture of Betts' tattoo she received after the baby's death. The newborn's hand prints are inscribed in Betts' left shoulder with the date "3-22-11." The article states the defendants refused to comment for the story.
* TruTV reveals Betts, 21, and Ammonnette, 20, conceived a child via
in-vitro fertilization. Midwest Maternal & Fetal Medicine specializes in complicated pregnancies. Both doctors, Moore and Webb, work for the clinic.
* A search of
Missouri Case Net records reveals Betts and Ammonette are represented by Brian Patrick Millikan of
Millikan Wright, LLC. The attorney once served as a police officer for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department before opening his own law firm in 2006. Millikan specializes in personal injury, criminal, traffic and DWI cases.
* Four defendants are listed in the case. Midwest Maternal & Fetal Medicine, Signature Medical Group, Webb and Moore are being sued for unspecified damages in a wrongful death and medical negligence lawsuit.
* The
statute of limitations for medical negligence cases is two years in Missouri. That time would have expired in March 2013.
William Browning, a lifelong Missouri resident, writes about local and state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Born in St. Louis, Browning earned his bachelor's degree in English from the University of Missouri. He currently resides in Branson.
A couple sues Dr for malpractice in death of baby! Only read if not faint of heart!
I can't even imagine. 
