US lawsuit blames baby’s death on cyberattack at Alabama hospital

The malpractice lawsuit, which seeks an unspecified amount of money from the hospital and Parnell, 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 labour and delivery’ had she known what was going on, it claims. — Woman photo created by wavebreakmedia_micro - www.freepik.com

MOBILE, Alabama: An Alabama woman whose nine-month-old daughter died has filed suit against the hospital where she was born claiming it did not disclose that its computer systems had been crippled by a cyberattack, which resulted in diminished care that resulted in the baby’s death.

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 labour 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. – AP