When Emerald Giles-Perkins held her newborn son for the first time, she knew it would also be the last time.
“He took his last breath in my arms,” she said.
Giles-Perkins and her husband, Darryl Perkins, of Addison, are suing Methodist Dallas Medical Center and OB-GYN Dr. Theresa Patton over their son’s death. In the lawsuit, filed in Dallas County District Court, the couple alleges medical staff provided improper treatment during childbirth and ultimately left their son with fatal head injuries.
The baby, named Prime, died one day after he was born in April 2024.
Methodist Health System spokesperson Ryan Owens wrote in an email that the system “has a longstanding policy of not commenting on pending litigation.” Patton wrote in an email that she can’t discuss specific patients because of privacy laws.
“I will simply say that I am committed to providing the highest quality medical care possible to my patients,” Patton wrote.
The Perkins say they disagree.
Giles-Perkins’ pregnancy had been uncomplicated, the couple said in an interview, but the delivery was difficult.
Hours after her water broke, Giles-Perkins’ labor seemed to stall out. To assist the delivery, Patton used a vacuum device, which involves attaching a suction cup to the baby’s head. The tool pulls the baby while the mother pushes.
Patton used the vacuum extractor at least four times, according to the lawsuit, but Prime still wasn’t delivered.
Giles-Perkins was eventually given a C-section and, when Prime was finally delivered, she initially thought everything was OK.
Over the next 24 hours or so, according to both the lawsuit and an interview, the couple lived a nightmare.
In intensive care, baby Prime seemed to be rapidly deteriorating. As the baby got sicker, hospital staff told the couple that he was sick with an infection he’d caught from Giles-Perkins.
Then, it became clear the baby would not survive.
Perkins re when his wife was wheeled to the NICU to see their son for the last time. She was wailing, Perkins said, and the sound is etched in his brain.
“I felt like, ‘God just take me, let him live,’” Perkins said.
After their son died, the couple decided to have an independent autopsy. They suspected their son’s death wasn’t due to an infection, they said.
The independent autopsy report, from Mesquite-based American Forensics, validated their suspicions. The pathologist wrote in the report that Prime had brain hemorrhages and, in her opinion, “died as a result of complications of childbirth with failed vacuum-assisted delivery.”
Geoff Henley, the couple’s attorney, said the Perkins are entitled to financial repayment for the death of their son and the pain they’ve lived through. He also hopes the suit will prompt Patton to stop practicing medicine.
“Emerald Giles said ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ to her son in the same breath,” Henley said. “They need to be made whole.”
The Texas Medical Board’s online database does not list any actions or investigations against Patton.
The lawsuit, filed on May 29, is in its early stages. Court records as of Wednesday afternoon did not show any response from Patton or Methodist Health.