Background: Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies (Google Maps). Inset: Gianna Lopera, Jahmiah Peets, and newborn Jahxy Peets (provided by attorney).
Parents of an infant in Florida say their premature baby suffered a fatal spinal cord injury at the hands of a hospital worker — and the hospital tried to cover it up.
Jahxy Peets was born on June 12, 2022, at the Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies. According to a lawsuit filed by Jahxy’s parents, mom Gianna Lopera and dad Jahmiah Peets, the baby was delivered by an emergency cesarean section at 24 weeks gestation. She was intubated and admitted to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) upon her birth, and as the lawsuit notes, “[t]here was no evidence of any birth-related trauma.”
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Within weeks, however, Jahxy apparently suffered a devastating injury.
According to the lawsuit:
On June 27, 2022, at approximately two weeks old, neurosurgery was consulted due to a concern for abnormal tone of her upper extremities. An abnormal sensory-motor exam was noted from C-4 to T-10 with significant cervical edema suggestive of a central cord injury.
On June 29, 2022, an MRI of the cervical spine was performed which showed cord signal abnormality, enlargement and presumed hemorrhage involving portions of the cervical and thoracic cord.
The lawsuit also described the injury in starker terms.
“To put it simply, Jahxy Peet’s neck had been broken,” the complaint says.
According to the lawsuit, this type of spinal cord injury “could not occur without the use of excessive force when handling a newborn.”
The baby’s medical records, however, do not reflect an acknowledgment of such an injury.
“There is no note in the medical record documenting the excessive-force event which caused this traumatic injury, and no indication in the medical record that an investigation was performed to identify and bring to justice the individual who caused this devastating injury,” the complaint says. “Furthermore, there is not evidence that police were notified that an individual with access to the Orland Health NICU had broken Jahxy’s neck and then put her back in the incubator without notifying anyone.”
Lopera and Peets say that not only was Jahxy’s injury “either not recognized or was not reported,” it also “appears from the records that an attempt to cover up the cause of Jahxy’s injury was made, as there is no mention of a precipitating event in the medical record.”
Moreover, Jahxy’s parents “were not timely informed” of their daughter’s injury.
As a result of the hospital’s alleged negligence, Jahxy “suffered a debilitating spinal cord injury which led to paralysis and an inability to breathe on her own,” the complaint says.
The baby died on Nov. 25, 2022.
“She was 165 days old,” the complaint notes.
The parents accuse Orlando Health of malpractice and wrongful death. They say the hospital failed to fulfill the duty of care it owed Jahxy, particularly in failing to “appropriately monitor, manage, and handle” her, leading to the fatal injury, and failing to train hospital and NICU workers “which would prevent injuries of excessive force when handling newborns.”
In addition, the lawsuit says, the hospital’s failure to timely respond to the “significant spinal cord trauma caused by a healthcare provider” led to a “fatal delay in identification and treatment” of Jahxy’s injury.
Jahxy’s family, as a result, “have suffered mental pain and suffering which will continue for the rest of their lives.”
Indeed, the baby’s parents are “devastated,” according to their attorney.
“Their daughter’s neck was broken by a hospital employee, and not only did the hospital fail to report it, but they are also attempting to use the courts to conceal the truth about what happened,” Natasha Diemer of the law firm Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa said in an email to Law&Crime on Monday.
Orlando Health said in a statement emailed to Law&Crime that the hospital provides “the highest quality of care” to its patients and that it has “oneo f the largest and most sophisticated” NICUs in the nation.
“We will not address specific medical cases publicly but will share that the delivery of care to extremely premature babies is complex and emotional work for parents, doctors, and nurses,” the statement said. “We offer our deepest sympathies to this family, and to any family who suffers the loss of a child, but also believe those who provide care in this environment should be judged on facts, not speculation. We look forward to discussing the facts of this case in the appropriate forum.”
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Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a comment from Orlando Health.
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