Oregon mother sues hospital after newborn baby suffocates while breastfeeding

A mother is suing a hospital in Oregon after her newborn baby accidentally suffocated when he was left alone with her to be breastfed while she was still 'groggy' after undergoing a caesarian section.

Monica Thompson said she was still under the effects of strong pain medication when a nurse brought her son Jacob to her hospital bed at Portland Adventist Medical Centre to breastfeed at 3am on 6 August 2012.

An hour later she awoke to find the baby unresponsive. She called for assistance as she tried to revive her son however when noone came to help, Thompson carried him into the hallway, where she was able to attract the attention of a nurse.

In court documents her laywer recounts the tragic accident explaining: "[The nurse] put Jacob next to his mother in her bed so that she could breastfeed him. [They] left the room and left mother and son unattended. About an hour later, still groggy and drowsy, Mrs Thompson noticed her son unresponsive in her arms.

"She tried to stimulate her son's suckling reflexes without success. She touched his eyes and got no response. She poked him and talked to him with no reaction. She called for a nurse while she tried to get him to respond," her lawyer wrote.

The baby was stabilized and taken to a children's hospital and was placed in the neonatal intensive care unit. Following tests doctors determined he had suffered severe brain damage due to a lack of oxygen to his body.

The baby died seven days later when, on the advice of doctors, his mother and father Graham turned off his life support Mail Online reports.

Thompson has filed a lawsuit on behalf of herself and her son, claiming the nurse was negligent for leaving her with the newborn unattended while she was under the influence of such strong pain medication.

She claims she is owed a further $8million claiming the hospital has 'directly caused her severe emotional distress, severe depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, severe anxiety and prolonged grief disorder'.