In two tragic cases of nurse malpractice, midwife Kristina Zittle of Virginia Beach was accused of contributing to the recent death of two infants, and has since had her license suspended by the Virginia Board of Medicine.

Zittle was to attend the home births of two babies, one in January and the other in June. Unfortunately in both cases, the mothers were considered high risk and Zittle was not qualified to handle such cases, resulting in the wrongful death of both babies.

One of the mothers was 25 years old and overweight. It was thought that she may have been suffering from gestational diabetes, a serious medical condition that, if left untreated, can cause death or serious injury to both the mother and the baby.

On January 23rd, the young patient contacted Zittle to inform her that her water had broken. More than 12 hours passed before Zittle examined the patient in her office, and ultimately instructed her to return home.

Zittle did not arrive at the patient’s home until nearly three hours following the onset of labor that evening. She then waited another two hours before performing a vaginal exam. The baby began delivering in a breech position, and although Zittle was not qualified to perform such a delivery, she chose to do so anyway. She placed a call to 911, only after the baby was born lifeless. It was later determined that had a caesarian section been performed, the child most likely would have survived.

The second case involves even more egregious behavior. The mother-to-be informed Zittle of the onset of her labor approximately 4 pm, however Zittle did not leave to go to the patient’s home until approximately nine hours had passed. At that point, the infant was stuck halfway out of the womb in a breech position.

Emergency medical crew arrived on the scene prior to Zittle, and called her to ask permission to transport the patient to the hospital. She instructed them not to, but to instead assist the mother in giving birth in the birthing tub at her home. The mother was ultimately transferred to the hospital shortly after Zittle arrived, but unfortunately it was too late. The baby was pronounced dead on arrival.

These are just two situations where inexperience and improper training resulted in gross negligence and wrongful death. Nurse malpractice is just as significant as any other form of medical malpractice and deserves to be closely examined and dealt with. Perhaps if more patients pursue justice when they are victims of such negligence, tragedies such as those described here will be avoided.