Lawsuit Settled For $3 Million

Oct 6, 2004 | Wilkes Barre Citizen's Voice A lawsuit filed nearly eight years ago in Luzerne County Court involving injuries an infant boy allegedly sustained at birth by medical personnel at Mercy Hospital in Wilkes-Barre was settled for $3 million on Friday.

Patrick Lombardo, and his wife, Christine, filed the lawsuit on behalf of their son, Jonathan, in 1996.
Their son died in August 2000 at the age of 4.

According to the lawsuit, Mrs. Lombardo was in her 40th week of pregnancy and was induced labor at 3 a.m. on Jan. 16, 1996.

The fetus' heart rate dropped and Mrs. Lombardo told hospital employees that she wasn't sure if she felt the fetus move.

The lawsuit alleged hospital employees failed to summon a doctor to care to Mrs. Lombardo due to complications during labor.

The fetus' heart rate continued to drop when their son was delivered by vacuum assistance.
According to the lawsuit, their son's condition improved but sustained permanent lung and brain injuries due to cardiopulmonary resuscitation efforts.

The Lombardos filed the lawsuit in 1996,claiming the hospital was negligent by failing to treat Mrs. Lombardo in a timely manner, and failing to have doctors available to perform an emergency delivery.

Named as defendants were: Mercy Hospital in Wilkes-Barre, Mercy Medcare, Inc., Pediatric Clinic of Nanticoke, Mercy Anesthesia Consultants, P.C., and doctors H. Chung, Marie Grabowski, Hyung B. Kim and Dasa S. Satyam.

On Friday, Luzerne County Judge Hugh Mundy approved the $3 million settlement reached between the parties.