The MedMal Room - When Minutes Matter: The $200 Million Lesson in Fetal Monitoring and Team Response

A Pennsylvania jury’s verdict underscores why hospitals should define — and enforce — exact thresholds for when to stop oxytocin and call a cesarean.

The story of Dajah Hagans and her baby is now publicly known. The 19-year-old first-time mother arrived at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in active labor with clear signs of infection — fever, maternal and fetal tachycardia, and elevated blood pressure. Within hours, her baby would be born with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, leading to…