The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune News Editor
rrolle@tribunemedia.net

AN obstetrician and a medical office centre must pay more than $186,000 to a mother whose first child died during labour at PMH nearly 14 years ago, after a court found that critical steps to manage a known childbirth emergency were not taken and the baby was delivered without a heartbeat.

In a ruling signed February 25, 2026, Registrar Renaldo Toote awarded Lendeisha Culmer-Hanna $186,063.64 in damages against Dr Leslie W Culmer and ACL Medical Office Centre. The award includes $16,063.64 in special damages and $150,000 for pain, suffering and loss of amenity.

The award also includes $20,000 in aggravated damages after the court found that, within hours of the delivery, while the woman remained in acute grief and physical distress, the doctor told her and her family that she was responsible for the death of her child and that there was “nothing wrong” with his management. The court said that attribution of blame inflicted a distinct additional injury, compounding the psychiatric harm.

The case arose from the delivery of Mrs Hanna’s first child at Princess Margaret Hospital on August 6, 2012. In an earlier liability judgment delivered on January 19, 2023, Senior Justice Indra H Charles found that the defendants breached their duty of care in both the prenatal management of the pregnancy and the delivery itself. They were held jointly and severally liable for the loss and damage that followed.

The registrar noted that the defendants, though served with notice of the damages hearing, did not attend and were not represented. He proceeded in their absence but stressed that the court was still required to examine the evidence carefully and ensure that any award was fair, reasonable and properly supported.

The court accepted that Baby Hanna died as a result of shoulder dystocia during labour, leading to an acute and fatal episode of oxygen deprivation. Mrs Hanna, then 30, was described as a high-risk patient with a history of obesity and diabetes. She received prenatal care from Dr Culmer.

After a complicated vaginal delivery lasting 24 minutes, the infant, weighing 10 pounds 10 ounces, was delivered without a heartbeat. At trial, the cause of death was disputed between shoulder dystocia and abruptio placentae. Justice Charles rejected the defence’s position that abruptio placentae caused the stillbirth, finding it inconsistent with the clinical observations and the autopsy evidence. She accepted the expert evidence of Dr Charles Stoopack, an obstetrician and gynaecologist in California, as the most reliable.

On the prenatal side, the court found that the defendants failed to conduct adequate antenatal examinations despite clear risk factors. They did not diagnose gestational diabetes, did not conduct appropriate late-term fetal monitoring, and did not order a third-trimester ultrasound to assess for fetal macrosomia. Those failures fell below the standard of reasonably competent obstetric care and materially increased the risk of shoulder dystocia.

During labour, the court found that recognised obstetric manoeuvres were not properly employed in response to shoulder dystocia, including the McRoberts position, suprapubic pressure, the Woods’ screw manoeuvre and delivery of the posterior arm. On the accepted expert evidence, the fatal outcome was avoidable had proper emergency manoeuvres been carried out promptly.

At the damages hearing, Mrs Hanna relied on witness statements, expert reports and a bundle of exhibits including invoices, receipts, laboratory records and hospital notes. In the absence of any competing evidence, the registrar accepted the opinions of Dr Stoopack and the claimant’s psychiatrist, Dr Desdemona Curtis-Downes.

In assessing general damages, the registrar detailed the physical and psychological toll. He described a prolonged, chaotic and traumatic labour. Mrs Hanna was administered Pethidine, which left her heavily sedated and disorientated during critical stages. She was subjected to forceful manual interventions, sustained a perineal laceration requiring suturing, and witnessed the stillbirth and failed resuscitation.

Psychiatrically, the court found that the primary injury was Major Depressive Disorder. Dr Curtis-Downes first assessed Mrs Hanna eight days after the stillbirth and described the loss as a traumatic one. Although the psychiatrist did not diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder, she said the absence of that diagnosis did not diminish the seriousness of the clinical picture.

The registrar said the psychiatric injury was enduring. He referred to persistent insomnia, anorexia, dysphoria, impaired concentration, psychomotor slowing, social withdrawal and episodic suicidal thoughts that required clinical supervision. Subsequent pregnancies were marked by intense anxiety and avoidance, leading to elective caesarean sections undertaken primarily because of psychological distress.

The registrar set the award for pain, suffering and loss of amenity at $150,000. He wrote that the case was not comparable to catastrophic medical negligence matters involving lifelong care, because here “Baby Hanna has no life to compensate.”

On special damages, the registrar awarded $6,965.29 for itemised medical expenses and $9,098.35 for funeral expenses and autopsy fees. However, he disallowed two global, non-itemised medical claims totalling more than $117,000, finding that they lacked the specificity required for strict proof.

A $69,212 claim for past loss of earnings was also dismissed. The registrar said it was irreparably undermined by a drafting error that referred to another person and another doctor, and by the absence of supporting documents such as payslips or a letter from an employer. He noted that the submissions included a verbatim passage in which a doctor purportedly opined that “Mr. Strachan will be unable to continue in his current profession.”

In addition to the damages, the registrar fixed costs of the assessment at $25,000, inclusive of a $7,000 expert witness fee, and ordered pre-judgment and post-judgment interest.