Baby died at Alabama Springhill Medical Center due to cyber attack

A baby allegedly received inadequate childbirth health care, and later died, at an Alabama Springhill Medical Center due to a ransomware attack.

An Alabama woman named Teiranni Kidd has filed suit after the death of her baby, she claims that the Springhill Medical Center was not able to respond to a cyberattack that crippled its systems causing the death of the infant daughter, reported The Wall Street Journal.

According to Kidd, the Alabama hospital did not disclose that it was hit by a severe cyberattack that interfered with the care for her baby, Nicko Silar.

“Nicko suffered a severe brain injury when medical staff failed to notice the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck because of a “lack of access to critical services and information caused by the cyberattack,” the suit said. She died nine months after the cord cut off her blood and oxygen supply.” reported The New York Post.

The hospital released a public statement about the security breach the day before the infant was born announcing it “has continued to safely care for our patients and will continue to provide the high quality of service that our patients deserve and expect.”

Nicko Silar was born on July 17, 2019, but at the time a ransomware attack blocked electronic devices at the hospital and the medical personnel was not able to properly monitor her condition during delivery, states the lawsuit filed Kidd. The lawsuit was initially filed in Mobile County in 2019, at the time Nicko was still fighting to live.

Nicko Silar spent months in the intensive care of a different hospital due to several health problems, including brain injuries, allegedly caused by the tragic events.

The woman requested unspecified compensation from the hospital and the doctor Dr. Katelyn Braswell Parnell, who delivered Nicko.

The lawyers of the woman sustain that she “would have gone to a different and safer hospital for labor and delivery” had she known what was going on, it claims

The administration of the Springhill Medical Center has denied having created a “false, misleading, and deceptive narrative” about the cyberattack and declared that has always operated to ensure the child’s delivery was safe.

The hospital blamed Dr. Parnell because he “was fully aware of the inaccessibility of the relevant systems, including those in the labor and delivery unit, and yet determined that (Kidd) could safely deliver her at Springhill.”

The Alabama hospital also added that under the law of the US State, the hospital did not have any legal duty to inform the patient of the ongoing cyberattack.

Parnell and her staff denied having caused Nicko’s injuries and death, she reportedly said she would have delivered the baby by cesarean section if she had access to a heart monitor showing Nicko’s vitals.

A trial is set for November 2022, the WSJ states that if the allegations are proven, it will be the first time a ransomware attack directly caused the death of an individual.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Springhill Medical Center)