Interesting. Even illegals can sue and win. Wonder if they have to pay taxes on the windfall, and if this will deter birth tourists from coming.
Chinese mom's death at Garden Grove Hospital ruled negligence; family gets $5.2 million
Nov. 2, 2015 Updated 11:16 p.m.
By JENNA CHANDLER / STAFF WRITER
A jury found a Garden Grove obstetrician negligent Monday in the death of a 26-year-old mother from China, finding he abandoned his patient in an intensive care unit after she had bled profusely.
Jurors awarded her husband, Yuanda Hong, and their two young sons about $2 million in damages. Before the trial, Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center settled for $3.2 million.
The verdict, which Hong called ?justice,? ends a seven-week trial described by Orange County Superior Court Judge James Di Cesare as ?very emotional.? Jurors viewed pictures of the mother, Ling Nie, and of the couple together and with their older, 4-year-old son.
After the verdict, obstetrician Long-Dei Liu denied doing anything wrong.
?I?m very sorry for the patient,? the obstetrician said. ?I wouldn?t leave a patient who was not stable. Impossible.?
Nie and Hong, who met in junior high school, lived apart in China; he is an architect and she was a financial executive. They decided she should come to Orange County after searching the Internet for the best places to give birth in the U.S.
?She is the most beautiful,? Hong said. ?It?s hard to believe my wife bled to death. It?s unbelievable.?
Hong said they were lured by the United States? reputation for having ?the best medical services.?
For hundreds of other expectant parents in China, a journey to Southern California means more than top-notch medical care. Some pay up to $50,000 to companies touting American citizenship, free education and other perks for U.S.-born babies.
It is legal for a foreigner to give birth in the U.S., but in March, federal agents raided at least 20 residences in Southern California, including an apartment complex near John Wayne Airport, to crack down on the growing practice of maternity tourism.
It does not appear Hong and Nie had ties to any of those companies, but Liu is listed on Chinese websites catering to mothers interested in giving birth in the U.S.
The couple?s dream of a healthy delivery in a ?good environment? went tragically awry.
Late in the night of March 9, 2014, Liu delivered the couple?s healthy, 4-pound baby boy. The procedure went smoothly until a nurse massaged Nie?s uterus, releasing a gush of blood, according to Hong?s attorney. Nie was suffering postpartum hemorrhage, one of the leading causes of death for pregnant women.
About 21/2 hours later, after ordering medicine and four units of packed red blood cells and inserting a balloon to control the bleeding, Liu transferred Nie to the intensive care unit, where she could be monitored overnight.
He stayed with Nie for 15 minutes to reinsert the balloon, which had dislodged, then went home, believing, he said, he would be notified if her condition worsened. But the doctor left the observation to nurses.
Before Liu left, he did not check her vitals, he testified in court. He did not need to, he testified, because her bleeding had stopped and she was awake and able to talk. He did not note that in her medical chart.
Hong?s attorney, Neil Howard, said the doctor should have done more.
?What?s the worst thing the doctor can do in that situation? He left his patient,? Howard said.
Hong and his attorney said the doctor should not have left ? what if his wife started bleeding again and needed emergency surgery? They argued Nie was not actually stable when Liu left; her fingernails were blue and her heart rate was up.
The nurses did call Liu at home about two hours later. It was 3:14 a.m. and Nie was code blue. She required an oxygen mask to breathe. Her heart rate had slowed to just 44 beats per minute.
Liu arrived in 14 minutes, but Nie?s condition continued to deteriorate. Her family took her off life support three days later.
?I feel terrible that a young woman died. I feel so sorry to have lost one of my patients and that I could not help prevent her death,? Liu said. ?I understand the jury has sympathy for the patient?s family. I have sympathy for them too.?
But Liu maintains he treated Nie within the standard of medical care and blames the nurses for not calling him sooner.
?My biggest issue was he did not write anything down,? said juror Elgine Rodriguez, 26. ?So all we got was his word against everyone else?s.?
?He should have stayed.?
Reporters Scott Schwebke and Roxana Kopetman
contributed to this story.
Contact the writer: jchandler@ocregister.com and @jennakchandler on Twitter
Chinese mom's death at Garden Grove Hospital ruled negligence; family gets $5.2 million
Nov. 2, 2015 Updated 11:16 p.m.
By JENNA CHANDLER / STAFF WRITER
A jury found a Garden Grove obstetrician negligent Monday in the death of a 26-year-old mother from China, finding he abandoned his patient in an intensive care unit after she had bled profusely.
Jurors awarded her husband, Yuanda Hong, and their two young sons about $2 million in damages. Before the trial, Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center settled for $3.2 million.
The verdict, which Hong called ?justice,? ends a seven-week trial described by Orange County Superior Court Judge James Di Cesare as ?very emotional.? Jurors viewed pictures of the mother, Ling Nie, and of the couple together and with their older, 4-year-old son.
After the verdict, obstetrician Long-Dei Liu denied doing anything wrong.
?I?m very sorry for the patient,? the obstetrician said. ?I wouldn?t leave a patient who was not stable. Impossible.?
Nie and Hong, who met in junior high school, lived apart in China; he is an architect and she was a financial executive. They decided she should come to Orange County after searching the Internet for the best places to give birth in the U.S.
?She is the most beautiful,? Hong said. ?It?s hard to believe my wife bled to death. It?s unbelievable.?
Hong said they were lured by the United States? reputation for having ?the best medical services.?
For hundreds of other expectant parents in China, a journey to Southern California means more than top-notch medical care. Some pay up to $50,000 to companies touting American citizenship, free education and other perks for U.S.-born babies.
It is legal for a foreigner to give birth in the U.S., but in March, federal agents raided at least 20 residences in Southern California, including an apartment complex near John Wayne Airport, to crack down on the growing practice of maternity tourism.
It does not appear Hong and Nie had ties to any of those companies, but Liu is listed on Chinese websites catering to mothers interested in giving birth in the U.S.
The couple?s dream of a healthy delivery in a ?good environment? went tragically awry.
Late in the night of March 9, 2014, Liu delivered the couple?s healthy, 4-pound baby boy. The procedure went smoothly until a nurse massaged Nie?s uterus, releasing a gush of blood, according to Hong?s attorney. Nie was suffering postpartum hemorrhage, one of the leading causes of death for pregnant women.
About 21/2 hours later, after ordering medicine and four units of packed red blood cells and inserting a balloon to control the bleeding, Liu transferred Nie to the intensive care unit, where she could be monitored overnight.
He stayed with Nie for 15 minutes to reinsert the balloon, which had dislodged, then went home, believing, he said, he would be notified if her condition worsened. But the doctor left the observation to nurses.
Before Liu left, he did not check her vitals, he testified in court. He did not need to, he testified, because her bleeding had stopped and she was awake and able to talk. He did not note that in her medical chart.
Hong?s attorney, Neil Howard, said the doctor should have done more.
?What?s the worst thing the doctor can do in that situation? He left his patient,? Howard said.
Hong and his attorney said the doctor should not have left ? what if his wife started bleeding again and needed emergency surgery? They argued Nie was not actually stable when Liu left; her fingernails were blue and her heart rate was up.
The nurses did call Liu at home about two hours later. It was 3:14 a.m. and Nie was code blue. She required an oxygen mask to breathe. Her heart rate had slowed to just 44 beats per minute.
Liu arrived in 14 minutes, but Nie?s condition continued to deteriorate. Her family took her off life support three days later.
?I feel terrible that a young woman died. I feel so sorry to have lost one of my patients and that I could not help prevent her death,? Liu said. ?I understand the jury has sympathy for the patient?s family. I have sympathy for them too.?
But Liu maintains he treated Nie within the standard of medical care and blames the nurses for not calling him sooner.
?My biggest issue was he did not write anything down,? said juror Elgine Rodriguez, 26. ?So all we got was his word against everyone else?s.?
?He should have stayed.?
Reporters Scott Schwebke and Roxana Kopetman
contributed to this story.
Contact the writer: jchandler@ocregister.com and @jennakchandler on Twitter
