Death of Baby at Greenwich Hospital Leads to CT DPH Investigation Finding Numerous Violations & Filing of Wrongful Death Lawsuit

January 5, 2017

GREENWICH, CT (January 5, 2017) – The recent death of a baby girl during labor and delivery at Greenwich Hospital led to an investigation by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) which revealed several violations of Connecticut State Regulations in connection with the death of the baby. As a result of the investigation, Greenwich Hospital has been required to implement new policies and procedures to address the importance of fetal monitoring in multiple gestation admissions.

In the hopes of preventing future infant fatalities at Greenwich Hospital, Lauren E. Sorgen and her husband, Grant D. Gulyassy, the parents of the deceased child, filed a lawsuit this month. The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that the hospital and the obstetrician on call at the time, Dr. Marjan Hedayatzadeh, failed to appropriately monitor their daughter’s heartbeat and, given the circumstances, failed to promptly deliver Myriam Grace Gulyassy by emergency C-section. The couple maintains that Greenwich Hospital’s failure to institute appropriate policies and procedures for multiple gestation admissions led to Myriam’s death.

The civil wrongful death lawsuit is being handled by attorneys Peter Dreyer and Sarah Ricciardi of the Connecticut law firm Silver Golub & Teitell LLP.

According to the DPH investigation, Mrs. Sorgen was 35 weeks pregnant with twins – a baby girl and a baby boy – when she was admitted to Greenwich Hospital on June 3, 2015, with signs that her amniotic sac had ruptured. Upon admission, the medical staff verified the heartbeats of both babies and also confirmed that both babies were moving.  This was consistent with the full examination of the twins conducted the day before – which found them both to be completely healthy.

However, a short time after arriving at Greenwich Hospital, the staff documented that they had difficulty hearing heart beat sounds from both twins and could not maintain the fetal heart tracing of both infants on an electronic monitor. Despite these difficulties, Greenwich Hospital employees made no effort to obtain an ultrasound of the twins, did not attempt to monitor the infants’ heart rates by any other method and did not initiate an emergency C-section.  Dr. Hedayatzadeh waited more than three hours before the C-section delivery of the twins was performed.

The wrongful death lawsuit alleges that the failure to monitor and promptly deliver Myriam allowed her to die from oxygen deprivation prior to the C-section at Greenwich Hospital.

“Sadly, we cannot change what happened to Myriam,” said Mr. Dreyer, “but we can hold those trusted with her care responsible for their actions. This family went to Greenwich Hospital because they believed they would receive exceptional medical care.  As the Connecticut Department of Health investigation revealed, it was far from that.  Every year on June 3, this family will celebrate the joy of the birth of their son and have to relive the deep sadness from the death of their daughter at Greenwich Hospital.”

About Silver Golub & Teitell LLP
Celebrating its 39th anniversary this year, Silver Golub & Teitell is one of Connecticut’s leading medical malpractice, serious personal injury and complex civil litigation law firms. The firm’s philosophy is simple: to provide its clients with the best legal representation possible, regardless of the effort and expense required. The Connecticut Law Tribune noted that the firm “… has earned some of the largest verdicts and settlements in state history.”  At the same time, these cases have had a significant impact on diverse areas of both state and national law. The firm has offices in Stamford, Danbury, Hartford and Waterbury, CT. www.sgtlaw.com

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Contact
Randy Savicky
Silver Golub & Teitell LLP
203-325-4491 ext. 174
rsavicky@sgtlaw.com

Documentation related to the DPH investigation and wrongful death lawsuit is available upon request.