NEWS

Trial begins in Ramseyer birth injury case

Saerom Yoo
Statesman Journal
Maverick Ramseyer, who has cerebral palsy due to brain damage at birth, sits with his mother, Elizabeth, at their Stayton home on March 17, 2014. His parents allege in a lawsuit that medical malpractice and negligence at Silverton Hospital caused injury to Maverick's brain. Jury selection has begun today.

Jury selection has begun in the medical malpractice case that accuses a Silverton obstetrician of medical negligence in the birth of 7-year-old Maverick Ramseyer.

Maverick's parents, Derrick and Elizabeth Ramseyer, claim that alleged negligence of Dr. Denis Dalisky and Silverton Hospital staffers led to the boy's oxygen deprivation and eventual diagnosis of cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that hinders body movement and coordination. They are seeking $40 million in economic and noneconomic damages.

Opening statements are expected to begin Wednesday. Marion County Judge Vance Day is presiding over the case, which is expected to last about 14 days.

Based on the details laid out in the complaint and by Ramseyers' attorney, Laura Kalur, gathered through medical records and depositions for the lawsuit, this is how Maverick's birth unfolded:

Early afternoon on Dec. 11, 2007, Elizabeth and Derrick went to the hospital 15 days overdue. She was given drugs to induce labor, and for 11 hours, the labor and delivery staff continued to increase the dosage.

Eventually, Elizabeth was told to start pushing, but Maverick's head wasn't positioned at the cervix, which the complaint alleges caused distress for the baby. Maverick's heart rate dropped to 60 beats per minute for about six minutes, Kalur said.

The doctor then decided to deliver the baby via emergency C-section. Maverick was born having inhaled his own fecal matter, or meconium. It is common for babies in distress to defecate while still inside the mother and also to inhale the meconium.

Maverick was born at 8:31 a.m. Dec. 12, 2007, apparently unable to breathe, Kalur said. The nursing staff and Dr. Michael Gabe, a family physician, attempted to resuscitate Maverick using a face mask and oxygen bag, before clearing his airway of meconium, the lawsuit states.

The hospital had called a mobile team from Oregon Health & Science University Hospital to help Maverick when family physician Dr. James Walker took out Maverick's edotrachial tube for 45 minutes, the lawsuit alleges.

The OHSU team arrived at about 10:30 a.m. and stabilized and transported Maverick to its neonatal intensive care unit. During Maverick's stay at OHSU, the Ramseyers learned that Maverick had brain damage due to oxygen deprivation.

The Ramseyers don't contend that OHSU did anything wrong.

The defendants have answered the allegations and denied any wrongdoing. The trial is set to last about 14 days.

syoo@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6673 or follow at Twitter.com/syoo.