Springhill Medical Center was deep in the midst of a
ransomware attack when Nicko Silar was born July 17, 2019, and the resulting
failure of electronic devices meant a doctor could not properly monitor the
child's condition during delivery, according to the lawsuit by Teiranni Kidd,
the child's mother.
Left with severe brain injuries and other problems, the baby
died last year after months of intensive care at another hospital. The lawsuit,
initially filed in Mobile County in 2019 while Nicko was still alive, was first
reported by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
The malpractice lawsuit, which seeks an unspecified amount
of money from the hospital and Dr. Katelyn Braswell Parnell, who delivered
Nicko, contends Springhill did not reveal the severity of the cyberattack
publicly or to Kidd. The woman "would have gone to a different and safer
hospital for labor and delivery" had she known what was going on, it
claims.
Springhill has denied wrongdoing and asked a judge to
dismiss the most serious part of the lawsuit, which contends officials
conspired to publicly create a "false, misleading, and deceptive
narrative" about the cyberattack in a scheme that made the child's
delivery unsafe.
The hospital claimed any blame lies with Parnell, who
"was fully aware of the inaccessibility of the relevant systems, including
those in the labor and delivery unit, and yet determined that (Kidd) could
safely deliver her at Springhill." Under Alabama law, the hospital did not
have any legal duty to provide Kidd with details of the cyberattack, the
hospital argued.
Parnell and her medical group, Bay Area Physicians for
Women, denied she did anything that hurt Nicko or caused the child's injuries
and death.
Springhill released a public statement about the cyberattack
the day before the child was born saying staff "has continued to safely
care for our patients and will continue to provide the high quality of service
that our patients deserve and expect," WKRG-TV reported at the time.