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FIRST DIVISION
December 20, 2010

No. 1-07-0207

JONATHON IACCINO, a Minor, by His ) Appeal from the
Parents and Next Friends, JOHN IACCINO )  Circuit Court of
and ELISA IACCINO, and JOHN IACCINO ) Cook County, Law
and ELISA IACCINO, Individually, ) Division.

)

Plaintiffs-Appellants, )

)

v. ) No. 00 L 42329

)
LORI L. ANDERSON, LINDA )

R. GIBSON, and WOMANCARE, P.C., )
a Corporation, ) Honorable

) Daniel M. Locallo,
Defendants-Appellees. ) Judge Presiding.

PRESIDING JUSTICE HALL delivered the opinion of the court:

This case concerns an action for medical malpractice brought

by plaintiffs John Iaccino and Elisa Iaccino, individually and as

parents and next friends of the minor plaintiff, Jonathon

Iaccino, against defendants Dr. Lori L. Anderson, Dr. Linda R.

Gibson, Womancare, P.C. (Womancare), and Northwest Community

Hospital1 for injuries Jonathon sustained during labor as a

result of oxygen deprivation (hypoxia).

Plaintiffs maintained that Dr. Anderson negligently

administered the drug Pitocin to Mrs. Iaccino during labor,

causing hyperstimulation of her uterus (tachysystole) resulting

1

The hospital settled prior to the first trial and is not
a party to this appeal. The first trial ended in a mistrial.

No. 1-07-0207
in Jonathon being deprived of oxygen.2 Plaintiffs contend Dr.
Anderson deviated from the applicable standard of care by
negligently monitoring Jonathon's fetal heart rate,3 and as a

2 Pitocin is a synthetic version of the hormone oxytocin,
which is used to induce labor by stimulating uterine
contractions. See Northern Trust Co. v. Burandt & Armbrust, LLP,
403 Ill. App. 3d 260, 264, 933 N.E.2d 432 (2010); see also
Velazquez v. Portadin, 163 N.J. 677, 681, 751 A.2d 102, 105
(2000) ("Pitocin is a medication used to increase the intensity
and frequency of uterine contractions in women whose contractions
are insufficient to deliver the baby. If Pitocin causes the
contractions to occur too frequently or last too long, the baby
may be harmed because blood flow to the baby slows during
contractions. That condition is called hyperstimulation of the
uterus. When the uterus is hyperstimulated, the interval between
contractions is shortened and there is not enough time for the
baby to catch up on its oxygen needs before the start of another
contraction").

At trial, hyperstimulation of the uterus was defined as "a
persistent pattern of more than five contractions in ten minutes,
contractions lasting more than two minutes, or contractions of
normal duration occurring within one minute of each other."

3 Expert testimony established that during labor one of the
ways babies compensate for a lack of oxygen is to speed up their
heart rates.

result, failed to timely discontinue the use of Pitocin,
resulting in Jonathon's brain being deprived of oxygen during
labor and delivery.

Plaintiffs further claim that Dr. Anderson was negligent in
failing to recognize uterine hyperstimulation, failing to
recognize evidence of fetal intolerance to labor as allegedly
reflected on the external electronic fetal monitor (EFM)4 strip,
failing to recognize cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD),5 failing
to recognize arrest of descent into the birth canal, and failing
to recommend a cesarean section.

4 An electronic fetal monitor is a machine that produces a
printout or fetal monitoring strip to "continually assess the
fetal heart rate and the relationship of the fetal heart rate to
maternal contractions, and are continually analyzed to determine
whether there is fetal distress or stress upon the fetus caused
by a lack of oxygen to the fetus." Baglio v. St. John's Queens
Hospital, 303 A.D.2d 341, 342, 755 N.Y.S.2d 427, 428 (2003). An
external fetal monitor is essentially an ultrasound transmitter
affixed to the woman's abdomen that monitors the baby's heart
rate.

5 "Cephalopelvic disproportion," or CPD, is a " 'condition
in which the head of the fetus is abnormally large in relation to
the size of the mother's pelvis.' " Mendez v. United States, 732

F. Supp. 414, 426 n.15 (S.D.N.Y. 1990), quoting 1 J. Schmidt,

Attorney's Dictionary of Medicine and Word Finder C-99 (1986).
-3

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