NSW: Family sues obstetrician over child's brain damage

AAP General News (Australia)
02-11-2004
NSW: Family sues obstetrician over child's brain damage

By Kylie Williams

SYDNEY, Feb 11 AAP - The family of a Sydney teenager with cerebral palsy are suing
her mother's obstetrician, claiming his miscalculation of her birth date caused her brain
damage.

Sharon Chevelle gave birth to Kristy Bruce at the Royal Hospital for Women, in Sydney's
east, on March 21, 1989.

Kristy, now 14, was born with cerebral palsy, is wheelchair-bound and cannot speak.

Her family claim her mother's obstetrician Dr Alan Kaye did not accurately predict
Kristy's birth date, thereby allowing her to be born between two-and-a-half and almost
six weeks overdue.

They are claiming more than $750,000 in damages in the NSW Supreme Court.

"She was probably about four weeks over when she was delivered," the family's counsel
Tony Bartley, SC, told the court today.

Mr Bartley said the brain damage resulted from Kristy being allowed to stay in the
womb for longer than 42 weeks, which causes the placenta to deteriorate.

"If you let the pregnancy go for 42 weeks you increase the risk of a compromised foetus,"

he said.

The court was told Ms Chevelle's uterus was ruptured during the birth, forcing an emergency
hysterectomy to save her life.

"He (Dr Kaye) just kept saying I was very lucky to be alive and I had a one-in-13 million
chance of surviving," she said.

Ms Chevelle, 49, has been Kristy's full time carer since birth, the court was told.

She and Kristy's father, Mark Bruce, separated 10 years ago and she has sold raffle
tickets and conducted door knocks to pay for her daughter's care for the past 12 years.

The court heard Ms Chevelle also arranged and paid for a teacher in a cerebral palsy
therapy method to come to Australia from Hungary to teach Kristy and other children with
the condition.

"There are so many things they (doctors) said she'd never do that she can do now,"

Ms Chevelle said.

Ms Chevelle had three other children before Kristy and the third was a difficult birth
involving a caesarian section, the court was told.

The hearing continues tomorrow.

AAP klw/nf/tma/de

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