A New Mexico family has filed a medical negligence lawsuit against Presbyterian Healthcare Services and Pediatrix Medical Group after their premature infant suffered permanent brain damage at a Presbyterian hospital in Albuquerque.
The complaint, filed on Dec. 5, claims that a neonatal nurse practitioner at Presbyterian’s downtown hospital incorrectly inserted a central catheter into the newborn’s heart and then pushed IV fluid through it, triggering a cardiac arrest and prolonged oxygen loss. According to the suit, that injury was absolutely preventable.
“It’s as simple as verifying the proper placement with an X-ray and acting on that imaging,” says Adrian O. Vega, a partner with Buckingham & Vega, the team representing the child’s family in the lawsuit. “If it’s in the wrong place, you can put it into the right place. It’s very simple to confirm”…