Smathers family seeks justice after traumatic hospital stay
Sep. 26—In an attempt to seek justice for "egregious acts of medical and corporate negligence," Canton's first family‚ Mayor Zeb Smathers, his wife, Ashely, and son, Stone, are taking on the most powerful healthcare system in America.
In the medical negligence and medical malpractice court action filed Sept. 23 in Buncombe County, the Smathers family is demanding a jury trial in the case against HCA Healthcare Inc, its corporate structures and Mission Hospital. The family is represented by the Raleigh law firm Zaytoun Ballew & Taylor, PLLC.
The lawsuit details a grisly account of how a joyous couple expecting their first child entered Mission Hospital at 6:10 p.m. March 19, 2020. Baby Stone wasn't born until 3:54 a.m. March 21.
By that time, Ashley Smathers was "on the brink of death," and baby Stone had experienced permanent hypoxic brain damage, the lawsuit states.
Difficult birth
The court action contends both Ashley and Stone Smathers were in perfect health upon entering Mission Hospital where labor was to be induced for a 40-week pregnancy.
Mission Hospital is advertised as a "Rigorous Baby Friendly" designation, was named as the "100 Hospitals and Health Systems with Great Women's Health Programs" and advertised that, in the event of a C-section delivery, the hospital provided a 24/7 OB Emergency Room staffed with labor and delivery nurses, 24/7 anesthesia and was Western North Carolina's only Level III NICU facility, the lawsuit states.
Yet, the Smathers' experience outlined in the lawsuit alleges gross negligence and reckless disregard for patient safety that didn't correlate with those claims and violated accepted standards of care.
After 29 hours of labor, Ashley Smathers' physician ordered a C-section to be performed — a surgery that was supposed to happen within 30 minutes. It was nearly five hours before the surgery took place.
During the labor process, Ashley Smathers had been given increasing doses of Pitocin, a drug that increases the strength of contractions.
As the contractions grew ever stronger and the delivery progress stalled, she began experiencing serious medical complications. Monitoring showed baby Stone's condition was deteriorating, too. His fetal heart rate was showing signs of deceleration and there were indications of an oxygen supply disruption.
During the time between the physician's C-section order and the actual surgery, baby Stone's head was tightly compacted in the birth canal, the lawsuit states, and the contractions exerted downward pressure on both Stone's body and his mother's cervical tissue.
As Ashely Smathers was in excruciating pain and being prepped for the C-section, a provider stated, "You're not dying, think of all the women in the world who do this without pain medication," according to the lawsuit. "To the contrary, Ashely's body was experiencing severe trauma that would soon bring her to the brink of death following delivery."
Following baby Stone's delivery at 3:54 a.m., March 21, providers initially failed to do testing to determine whether baby Stone required emergent treatment to mitigate potential injuries, the lawsuit claims.
The court action states he will live the rest of his life with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy with associated delays and disabilities.
A fight to live
Multiple efforts were made to stop Ashley Smathers' hemorrhaging, including a later emergency exploratory surgery, and ultimately an emergency hysterectomy.
Zeb Smathers was told to "start preparing himself for the fact that he may well lose his wife," the lawsuit states. "The attending physician later informed both Zeb and Ashley that after the hysterectomy was completed, the bleeding continued, and all the surgical team could do was stand next to Ashely and pray."
She miraculously survived, lost 10 liters of blood, and was transferred to the ICU unconscious, intubated and dependent on a ventilator.
The lawsuit states a resident physician at Mission told the couple their medical experience "would be taught to medical students and would be in a medical literature."
Meanwhile, baby Stone was taken to the nursery where his condition continued to deteriorate, and he experienced seizures.
He was evaluated by the NICU team 12 hours later and an MRI revealed extensive, multifocal ischemic areas on the left side of his brain, the lawsuit states. Placental pathology results showed no infection or abnormalities that could have caused or explained the brain trauma.
The lawsuit contends the hospital did not have the proper equipment to deal with baby Stone's post-birth trauma, including a way to treat therapeutic hypothermia treatments to reverse or mitigate the effects of hypoxic brain injury.
"Words cannot hope to capture and degree of fear, pain and emotional suffering the plaintiffs have experienced and will continue to experience, as a result of the defendants' negligence and corporate decisions to place profits over patient safety," the lawsuit states.
Claims for relief
The lawsuit includes a laundry list of hospital failures, including that the Mission team failed to provide the physician-ordered C-section in a timely manner.
The hospital knowingly and intentionally placed profits over patient safety by reducing the number of surgical teams working and available at the hospital or on all overnight, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages in excess of $25,000 and alleges gross negligence, which opens the door to punitive damages.
HCA had made administrative and business decisions for Mission Hospital since February 2019, the lawsuit states.
Nancy Lindell, Mission Health spokesperson, sent the following response when asked for comment on the lawsuit: "Our hearts go out to the Smathers family. We also believe the care we provided was appropriate, and we will defend ourselves through the legal process."
