The case of a baby who suffered permanent neurological damage during birth was exposed in a whistleblower case filed by James Hoyer client Dr. Judith Robinson. WTHR, the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis, profiled the story of little Denise and her mom, Nancy Koger. The Koger’s case was one of three permanently injured babies and 17 “near misses” in a six month period documented by Dr. Robinson when she worked at IU Health and Methodist Hospital. Dr. Robinson blew the whistle on the health network for allowing midwives to care for low-income, high risk, pregnancy patients, in violation of state Medicaid rules by filing a whistleblower case.
Investigative Reporter Sandra Chapman took viewers into the delivery room to witness alarming moments during baby Denise’s birth and revealed that her mom required an emergency C-section, after a mid-wife missed key warning signs two days earlier and sent her home. As a result, Denise suffered brain damage. The toddler is now in a wheelchair, unable to talk and must be fed through a tube. Nancy Koger is in the process of filing suit against IU Health and Methodist Hospital.
WTHR Report- PART 2: Mom Claims Botched Delivery & Missing Medical Records13 WTHR Indianapolis
In this second report, WTHR Investigative Reporter Sandra Chapman looks at the case of Dorothy Riggle and her daughter Crystal, who is now 10-years old. Crystal suffered brain damage and permanent injury to her arm and eye after a traumatic birth, at Methodist Hospital. Her mom says a midwife refused to call a doctor when she came to the emergency in labor, despite telling her that she had a high risk pregnancy. Adding insult to injury, the hospital told them it lost the medical records of Crystal’s birth, so their efforts to take legal action have been compromised.
