Vecchione

Joyce and Richard Yecchione brought this action against Fayette A. Carlin, Jr., a pediatrician, and Bay General Hospital for the alleged wrongful death of their infant daughter Diana Marie. After the jury returned a defense verdict, the Vecchiones appeal.

Carlin was on the staff of Bay General Hospital in charge of the nursery and was present when Diana was born at 9 a.m. on April 9, 1974. The infant was small (four pounds, seven ounces), premature and was suffering from respiratory distress from birth. On delivery, the baby had no muscle tone, her color was blue to pale, she had poor reflex irritability (a weak cry), her respiratory effort was slow and irregular and her heartbeat was poor. Carlin concluded the child was not receiving adequate oxygen at birth. The mother had had an abruption of the placenta (premature separation of the placenta from the uterus before the baby was born) which, according to medical experts, could produce serious consequences including a fetal-maternal bleed (the baby will bleed backward through the placenta) and hypoxia (insufficient oxygen reaching the brain). The baby was covered with meconium -stained amniotic fluid indicating the baby…