On Dec. 23, 2012, plaintiffs’ decedent Jayden Prudente was born at Community Regional Medical Center, in Fresno. He was delivered by Dr. Minh Tang and Dr. Jolyn Chen, both OB-GYNs. Initially, a vacuum assisted delivery was attempted before a Caesarean section was performed. Two days later, on Dec. 25, 2012, Jayden died. His autopsy report listed the cause of death as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. Jayden’s mother, Grecia Sanchez, then 26, sued Tang; Community Regional Medical Center; University Women’s Specialty Center; and Central California Faculty Medical Group Inc. Jayden’s father, Francisco Prudente, then 27, was initially listed as a defendant, per C.C.P. § 382, but was later added as a plaintiff once he consented to joining the case. The action was further amended to add Chen as a defendant. Jayden’s parents alleged that the defendants were negligent in the delivery of their son, causing his wrongful death, and that the defendants’ negligence constituted medical malpractice. Community Regional Medical Center was let out of the case on a motion for summary judgment, and University Women’s Specialty Center and Central California Faculty Medical Group were ultimately dismissed from the case. Thus, the matter continued against Tang and Chen only. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that Tang and Chen failed to perform a cesarean section sooner. The plaintiffs’ OB-GYN expert opined that a C-section should have been done at either 3:08 a.m. or 3:15 a.m. because the fetal heart strips showed little to no variability. The expert also opined that Sanchez was at a mid- to high station when the vacuum was attempted, making a vacuum delivery unlikely to be successful. Defense counsel argued that the plaintiffs’ expert’s opinion contradicted the medical chart and witness testimony. Counsel contended that based on the fetal monitor strips, the doctors exercised appropriate clinical judgment when they first tried a vacuum-assisted delivery before performing a C-section. The defense’s fetal medicine expert testified that the strips showed Category 2 tracings with moderate variability at all relevant times and that when the vacuum was attempted, it was the fastest way to deliver the baby, which was an appropriate exercise of clinical judgment under the circumstances. Defense counsel contended that the plaintiffs’ OB-GYN expert changed his opinions and bases. Specifically, defense counsel noted that in a declaration of support of an opposition to the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the plaintiff’s expert first said that the baby should have been delivered at 3:15 a.m. and that the plaintiff’s expert changed his opinion to 3:08 a.m. during his deposition testimony. Defense counsel also noted that the plaintiffs’ expert testified in deposition that his opinions were based, in part, on the variability within the decelerations shown on the strips, but after not having mentioned it at all on direct examination, the plaintiff’s expert conceded in court that such was an unreliable metric., Jayden died of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy on Dec. 25, 2012, two days after he was born. He was survived by his parents, Grecia Sanchez, then 26, and Francisco Prudente, then 27. Jayden’s parents were never married, and each went on to have two children with different people. However, they sought recovery of $5 million in wrongful death damages for the loss of Jayden.