In May 2011, plaintiff Kristin DeFlores, a pharmacy technician at Kaiser who was in her 30s and was 37-weeks pregnant, had a stillbirth delivery. DeFlores claimed that she had symptoms of a rare disease, acute fatty liver of pregnancy, which caused the stillbirth. She also claimed that her obstetrician for prenatal care, Dr. Scott Wada, and the doctor who covered for Wada when he was off-duty, Dr. Kyla Ai-Lan Yee, failed to send her for testing, which would have revealed the disease and saved her pregnancy and baby. DeFlores sued Wada, Yee, Dr. Daniel Zimmerman, and Sutter Delta Medical Center. DeFlores alleged that the defendants failed to properly treat her and failed to diagnose the rare disease, resulting in the loss of her unborn baby. She also alleged that these failures constituted medical malpractice. Sutter Delta Medical Center and Zimmerman settled out of the case prior to trial. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that DeFlores presented to Wada multiple times and that DeFlores still had nausea, vomiting, headaches and heartburn in her third trimester. Counsel noted that DeFlores had been pregnant before and knew that this pregnancy felt different, causing DeFlores to present to Wada and then the emergency room one week before the stillbirth. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that when DeFlores presented to the E.R., Yee, who was on-call for Wada, heard DeFlores’ symptoms from the nurses over the phone, but did not come in and performed no follow-up testing on DeFlores. Counsel also contended that the symptoms DeFlores experienced late in her pregnancy were disregarded and that no blood work or liver test was done. Counsel further contended that DeFlores reported upper abdominal pain, which Wada and Yee disregarded. Thus, plaintiff’s counsel argued that Wada and Yee should have recognized the symptoms that presented in the third trimester and that the symptoms warranted follow-up testing, which would have led to a diagnosis of one to three liver diseases, all of which would have dictated the physicians to induce labor. The plaintiff’s expert obstetrician testified that, after reviewing all testimony and medical records, he opined that DeFlores should not have had all the symptoms so late in her pregnancy. The expert also opined that follow-up testing could have been performed to see that the liver was not functioning properly, creating a toxic environment for the fetus, and that, at that point, labor should have been induced at 36 weeks, when the fetal heart testing was normal. Nurses testified that they communicated the symptoms to Yee, but Yee did not recall this and testified that she had done everything properly. Defense counsel contended that DeFlores’ symptoms were common for pregnancy and that the disease could not be diagnosed based on the symptoms presented. Thus, counsel argued that it was not a violation of the standard of care for the extremely rare liver disease to not be diagnosed. The defense’s expert in obstetrics/gynecology reviewed the medical records and opined that it was not evident that DeFlores presented with symptoms that warranted follow-up blood testing and liver diagnosis. The expert also opined that there was no way to tell the fetus died of the rare disease and that the fetus probably died due to nuchal cord involvement, or a loop of umbilical cord around the fetal neck. The defense’s expert placental pathologist provided slides of the placenta, evaluated them microscopically, and presented to the jury that the placenta was injured by thrombosis, or narrowing of the arterioles from the mother, which provides oxygen to the fetus. Thus, the expert opined that the fetus’ death was most likely idiopathic. However, plaintiff’s counsel noted that on cross-examination, the defense’s placental pathologist expert acknowledged that the thrombosis did occur at the same time as the abnormal liver function. The court instructed the jury, in accordance with California law, that the case was not a wrongful death case, but, rather, a personal injury action for DeFlores, since unborn fetus’ lack standing in California for injury or death., DeFlores suffered symptoms of a rare disease, acute fatty liver of pregnancy. She claimed the disease ultimately caused the stillbirth. DeFlores alleged that she suffered emotional distress as a result of the loss of her child. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that, at the time of trial, DeFlores’ child would have been 4 years old. Thus, DeFlores sought recovery of around $250,000 in general damages for her emotional distress as a result of the loss of her child. She also sought recovery of approximately $80,090.82 in past medical bills. After the event, DeFlores went on to give birth to another healthy child.