Trendy NYC midwifery start-up Oula backed by Chelsea Clinton is sued by Brooklyn couple who say shoddy doctors left their baby with permanent brain damage during emergency C-section

Trendy midwifery start-up Oula, backed by Chelsea Clinton, has been hit with a lawsuit alleging that the clinic left a baby with permanent brain damage.

The baby's parents, who have not been identified, claim that Oula's midwives were negligent and 'reckless' during the delivery, which resulted in the infant being born with brain damage.

The couple from Brooklyn, New York City, alleges that the midwives failed to get obstetricians in time to deliver the baby, as reported by the New York Post.

When the C-section was delayed, the infant went into 'fetal distress' and suffered hypoxic brain damage, according to the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn State Supreme Court.

The business, launched by Harvard graduate Adrianne Nickerson and New York University graduate Elaine Purcell in 2019, has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit. 

Trendy midwifery start-up Oula, backed by Chelsea Clinton, has been hit with a lawsuit alleging that the clinic left a baby with permanent brain damage. Pictured: Oula founders Adrianne Nickerson (left) and Elaine Purcell (middle)

The couple from Brooklyn, New York City, alleges that the midwives failed to get obstetricians in time to deliver the baby. Pictured: Oula's Manhattan clinic 

With the initial funding from Clinton's Metrodora Ventures LLC, Oula was able to open two clinics in NYC. Pictured: Chelsea Clinton at Oula's event in March, 2023  

Oula has opened two clinics, one located in Brooklyn Heights and the other in Manhattan Soho, surrounded by upscale restaurants and designer brands.

The company offers 'full-service pregnancy care from prenatal, to delivery, to postnatal support,' according to its website. 

A source who did not want to be identified said Mount Sinai West, where the brain damaged baby was born last year, assigned a dedicated obstetrician to Oula's patients after the incident. 

Until recently, Oula did not have a dedicated obstetrician at the hospital, despite having delivered more than 1,500 babies since its opening in 2019, the source said. 

'Oula is all about the money. It's really an egregious and dangerous line they're walking.' a source who did not want to be identified told the outlet 

The former first daughter is one of Oula's earliest investors, as she posted on X last year: 'Very proud to be an investor in Oula as they continue to build a midwife-centered care model that has better outcomes for mothers & babies alike.' 

Other investors include Jonathan Bush, nephew of former President George H. W. Bush, who admitted to violently attacking his first wife, as revealed by DailyMai.com in 2018. 

In February, the company closed its Series B funding with $28 million, bringing its overall funding to $50 million, including $3.2 million from seed funding and $19 million from a Series A round.

'The market opportunity Oula is going after is massive, and we were able to show that we had a winning business model and positive unit economics,' Nickerson and Purcell said in an interview with Medium. 

'More than anything, we hear from patients that they value how personalized care is at Oula. They feel seen and heard - the opposite of the cookie-cutter approach that is the standard in this country,' they added.

A source who did not want to be identified said Mount Sinai West, where the brain damaged baby was born last year, assigned a dedicated obstetrician to Oula's patients after the incident

Until recently, Oula did not have a dedicated obstetrician at the hospital, despite having delivered more than 1,500 babies since its opening in 2019, the source said

Oula has opened two clinics, one located in Brooklyn Heights and the other in Manhattan Soho, surrounded by upscale restaurants and designer brands. Pictured: Oula's Manhattan clinic

Oula hosted a star-dubbed event last year featuring Chelsea Clinton(first left), Glamour Magazine's executive editor Natasha Pearlman(second left) and Olympian athlete Allyson Felix(third left)

 With the initial funding from Clinton's Metrodora Ventures LLC, Oula was able to open two clinics in NYC, with the third slated to open in Manhattan's Upper West Side near Columbia University. 

More clinics will be planned in the tri-state area, as co-founders said in February: 'We are using this round of capital to expand beyond NYC and to launch new services for women during their reproductive years.' 

'We are excited to be growing deeper in the tri-state market and using our unique hybrid capabilities to address women’s experiences that are underserved today, like miscarriage care and preconception coaching,' they added. 

As the multi-million-dollar start-up now being hit with the lawsuit, its spokeswoman said: 'Our hearts go out to any family suffering during what should be a joyful moment in their lives.' 

'We honor healthcare privacy and can't comment on this claim. We started Oula out of a deep commitment to support families during pregnancy, birth and early parenthood and we continue to operate with this commitment.'