A Jackson County jury sided with a Kansas City pediatrician and his employer in a medical negligence lawsuit alleging a failure to detect a young girl’s hip dysplasia.
Tina and Randall Reed of Bates County sued Kansas City Pediatrics and Dr. Scott Dattel in 2020 over the medical care provided to their daughter, who was born on Nov. 11, 2015, by C-section.
The couple alleged that Dattel and two physician assistants (who were dismissed from the suit on the final day of trial) had 11 newborn and infant check-ups, starting at 3 days old, where the condition could have been identified. Another physician at Children’s Mercy Hospital diagnosed the condition in 2018.
The plaintiffs said the condition required fixation surgery on both hips before the child’s third birthday, with another surgery required the following year to remove the hardware.
The jury deliberated for 10 hours before delivering its verdict in a 9-3 vote, said lead defense attorney John Hicks.
Hicks said he argued that the child developed late-onset hip dysplasia that would not have been detected by ultrasound in the infant girl’s early months.
Robert Kingsland, who represented the couple, has filed a motion for a new trial.
“The parents testified that they mentioned their concern about having noted movement in their daughter’s hips at the initial appointments, but thereafter stopped expressing concerns, because they were told by the defendant that this movement was to be expected because their child was born in breech presentation,” he said.
This article was written by Alan Scher Zagier and published in Missouri Lawyers Media.