Louisiana couple wins more than $3million from hospital after newborn son dies from skull fracture and brain hemorrhaging caused during rough C-section delivery

A Louisiana couple won over $3 million for medical malpractice resulting in the death of their newborn son, who suffered a brain bleed and skull fracture at birth.

A jury from the 32nd Judicial District Court for the Parish of Terrebonne awarded $3.7 million to Tiffany and Cody Chiasson, whose son Dean died following a repeat cesarean section.

The Thibodeaux-based couple sued Dr. Sheena Duplantis and Terrebonne General Medical Center after their baby died of a fractured skull and extensive brain hemorrhaging at just two days old.

During the trial, the jury determined that both defendants had breached the standard of care.

Tiffany, a registered nurse herself who previously worked in the NICU at Terrebonne General, went into labor on December 7, 2015.

Tiffany and Cody Chiasson were awarded $3.7 million for medical malpractice leading to the death of their newborn son Dean

The baby boy died at two days old after suffering a brain hemorrhage and skull fracture during a repeat C-section

She was 37 weeks pregnant and had showed signs of pre-term labor a month earlier. 

According to the lawsuit, Duplantis began the procedure without an assistant present. She had only attained board certification a month prior.

The baby’s heart tones were not monitored after spinal anesthesia, nor for 41 minutes after Tiffany was wheeled into the operating room, the suit alleged.

After Duplantis struggled to deliver the baby, another doctor, Richard Clement, was called. He delivered the baby on his first attempt.

A distressed Tiffany was placed under general anesthesia and Dean was taken to Ochsner Baptist Medical Center for additional treatment.

However, a pediatric neurosurgeon concluded that he had suffered an 'unrecoverable event' at birth.

Doctors made the decision to withdraw care and Dean died an hour later, cradled in Cody's arms. He was only two days old.

An autopsy report noted a hand print over the baby's right forehead, indicating the use of excessive force. Brain scans also showed extensive bleeding stemming from blunt trauma to the head during delivery.

According to the lawsuit, Dr. Sheena Duplantis began the procedure without an assistant present and failed to monitor the baby's heart tones

Another doctor stepped in to assist in the delivery. Dean was taken to another hospital for further treatment, but a surgeon there found that he had suffered an 'unrecoverable event'

An autopsy report noted a hand print over the baby's right forehead, indicating the use of excessive force, and tied bleeding in the brain to blunt head trauma

Five days after Dean's death, Tiffany requested her medical records and found that Duplantis had changed details in her report

Another point of concern were inconsistent statements relating to the procedure, the lawsuit claimed.

Five days after Dean's death, Tiffany requested her medical records from both Terrebonne General and the obstetrician's clinic as she suspected that they might be altered.

Her suspicions proved to be correct. Three weeks after the delivery, Duplantis changed details in her operative note and did not sign off on her prenatal record until after Dean died.

Discrepancies between the two versions of the report included details about anesthesia, the position of the baby during the C-section and Tiffany's cervical dilation.

While the nearly $4 million award may seem like a relief, the Chiassons will only see a fraction of it.

'Unfortunately, Louisiana law prevents the Chiassons from receiving the full damages awarded by the jury, as our cap on medical malpractice damages was enacted in 1975 and has never once been adjusted for inflation,' said attorney Kara Hadican Samuels, who represents the couple.

Under state law, most victims of medical malpractice cannot recover more than $500,000. The judge is expected to reduce the jury's award later this week.

Years later, the couple is still grappling with the loss of baby Dean. They have two young boys, one of whom was born after Dean's passing.

In 2018, Tiffany donated dozens of weighted teddy bears to Ochsner Baptist Medical Center, or 'the hospital that gently helped us through the worst moments of our lives.'

'My chest and arms were so empty when Dean died and this bear helped with that physical emptiness,' she wrote at the time.

'To this day when I'm having a rough time I still sleep with this bear and when I don't sleep with him, he's wrapped around Dean's urn.'

Samuels acknowledged that the ruling couldn't take away the pain that her clients continue to experience.

However, 'it demonstrates that the jury recognizes the responsibility that medical providers have to their patients and knew that the standards that healthcare providers are held to were not met here,' she said.