Hospital worker fatally broke newborn’s neck — and facility tried to cover it up, lawsuit says

The parents of Jahxy Peets, a baby girl who was born prematurely and died months later, are suing an Orlando hospital, claiming the facility tried to hide how their daughter’s neck was broken in the NICU.

After Gianna Lopera gave birth to Jahxy at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies, she was intubated and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit in June 2022, according to the lawsuit filed Oct. 17 in the county from Orange, Florida. Jahxy was 24 weeks old when she was born.

A health care provider at the hospital is accused of breaking Jahxy’s neck while handling her about two weeks later, then returning Jahxy to her incubator with a broken neck without alerting staff, the complaint states .

This caused “a debilitating spinal cord injury” that paralyzed Jahxy, according to the complaint. At one point, other hospital staff realized the baby had stopped moving his arms and legs, according to an Oct. 17 news release from Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa, the law firm. lawyers representing Jahxy’s parents.

Jahxy’s broken neck led to his death a few months later on November 25, 2022, the complaint states.

“She wasn’t able to breathe on her own, her organs started shutting down…it was just a very slow death,” Jaxhy’s parents’ attorney, Nicole Kruegel, told McClatchy News on Monday. October 18.

The baby’s injury was revealed after a sensorimotor examination, followed by an MRI of the neck on June 29, 2022, according to the complaint.

“This traumatic event was not acknowledged or reported and it appears from the records that an attempt to conceal the cause of Jahxy’s injuries was made,” the complaint states.

Before Lopera and Jahmiah Peets, Jahxy’s father, filed their lawsuit, Orlando Health admitted that it was liable for their daughter’s death under Florida Statute 766.207, which would limit the amount of damages and interest the family could recover in arbitration, according to Kreugel.

“Jahxy’s parents reject the admission and instead choose to fight for justice,” the press release said. “Although Orlando Health acknowledges their negligence, they refuse to reveal who killed Jahxy Peets.”

Orlando Health declined a request for comment from McClatchy News on October 18. A spokeswoman, Kena Lewis, said the health system “does not comment on pending litigation.”

Experts consulted by Kreugel, who reviewed Jahxy’s medical records, determined that his neck was broken, telling Kreugel that “there is no way this happened accidentally” and that the injury was caused by “extremely excessive force,” Kreugel said.

Toward the end of Jahxy’s life, his parents received almost no explanation for what had happened, other than a nurse advising them to hire a lawyer, Kruegel said. The nurse, according to Kruegel, told the parents that her injury was not “something that should happen,” Kruegel said.

Kruegel said police were never informed of Jahxy’s broken neck and there was no investigation or incident report.

“As far as the parents know, this person who did this could have done it intentionally, or if they did it accidentally, they did it because they don’t know what they’re doing, and they is still in that NICU as far as we know,” Kruegel said.

“What really bothers me about this case is that the hospital is admitting liability and trying to push this case all the way to arbitration,” Kruegel told McClatchy News.

“They recognize the terrible harm they have caused, but only for financial gain to limit their exposure,” she said.

If Jahxy’s parents agreed to hospital admission, Kruegel said “the only information that would have been disputed was the amount of damages, and we would never be able to find out what happened to Jahxy.”

“There would have been no closure for this family. And that’s the route the hospital wanted us to take, to sweep everything under the rug and never find out what really happened,” she added.

With their lawsuit, Lopera and Jahmiah Peets are seeking more than $50,000 in damages and demanding a jury trial.

On Oct. 21, parents will hold a press conference outside Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies at 3:30 p.m.

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