Santos v. Unity Hospital

Loughran, Ch. J.

This is an action for wrongfully causing the death of the plaintiff’s decedent who was killed when she fell out of a window of a labor room in the maternity division of the defendant’s hospital. The decedent was in an advanced stage of labor at the time and was awaiting removal to a delivery room for the birth of her third child. The fatal fall was brought about by a mental derangement called intrapartum psychosis — a condition that is recognized by the medical profession as a hazard of childbirth, though the incidence of the disorder may not be high.

The decedent was alone in…