An Oregon woman is suing a hospital after she accidentally smothered her son four days after he was born.
Monica Thompson filed an $8.6-million lawsuit against Portland Adventist Medical Center on Wednesday, local media reported.
In the court documents, she said the hospital is at fault for her son’s death because the four-day-old was put in bed with her at night to breastfeed. But she was unsupervised and on sleeping aids and pain medication.
In August 2012, Thompson said her son Jacob was taken to a nursery so she could rest before being discharged. She said she was given narcotic painkillers and sleep aids.
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According to the lawsuit, a nurse walked into the room, gave her the baby to breastfeed and left. However, Thompson dozed off and woke up to find her son not breathing.
She called for a nurse while she tried to get him to respond,” the suit stated. “She poked him and talked to him with no reaction. When no nurse came to help, Mrs. Thompson carried her son to the hallway and frantically yelled for help.”
The newborn suffered brain damage and was removed from life support after doctors said his comatose state was irreversible.
Thompson is now suing the hospital for gross negligence and causing her “severe emotional distress.”
Medical centre spokeswoman Kristi Spurgeon Johnson declined to comment, saying on Wednesday the hospital didn’t yet have a chance to review the lawsuit. She also declined comment about the hospital’s policies about newborns sharing beds with mothers.
With files from the Associated Press
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