Infant Died After Skull Crushed by Forceps, Family Says

The parents of a baby who died after allegedly suffering skull fractures during a forceps delivery late last month say the use of forceps should be banned.

The parents of Olivia Marie Coats plan to sue obstetrician, Dr. George T. Backardjiev, who allegedly used the forceps during the December 28 delivery, ABCNews reports. The baby was transferred from the Medical Center of Southeast Texas to the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.  She died at Hermann hospital on January 2^nd.

The baby’s mother, is only 4-feet 11-inches tall, and feared her baby was too big for her to deliver vaginally. The infant weighed 7 pounds, 14.9 ounces. According to the baby’s paternal grandmother, the baby’s father also requested a caesarean birth but Dr. Backardjiev refused. The grandmother was present at the birth and told ABCNews.com that the doctor used the forceps after unsuccessful attempts to turn the baby, who she alleges was face up. She also alleges that the doctor repeatedly tried to pull the baby out with the forceps and they “heard her skull crush,” according to ABCNews. An emergency caesarean section was eventually performed, but it came too late, the family alleges. The baby was not breathing and never cried, according to the grandmother.

Doctors at Hermann hospital told the family that the baby was not breathing on her own and she had “numerous skull fractures,” according to the ABC News report. Obstetrician-gynecologist Jennifer Ashton of ABCNews warns that skull fracture is a risk in forceps delivery and most obstetricians now use vacuum extraction. A statement released by the Medical Center of Southeast Texas said, “hospital administration and independent medical staff immediately initiated a review of all aspects of this case … to understand why this happened.”