A Lewiston mom is suing Central Maine Medical Center for failing to act on her complaints of illness and irregularities while pregnant, which she said caused her baby to develop a brain injury that has left him severely disabled.

Calyx Hemenway is accusing the Lewiston hospital, its health system, Central Maine Healthcare, and two midwives of medical malpractice, arguing they are directly negligent in failing to uphold a reasonable standard of care in the week before her son, Holden, was born in 2022 with a severe form of cerebral palsy that affects his arms and legs.

Central Maine Healthcare does not comment on pending litigation, a spokesperson said Tuesday.

Hemenway, represented by the Auburn law firm Gideon Asen LLC, filed the case to Maine Superior Court on March 18. She is seeking compensatory damages for her medical expenses, physical suffering and emotional injuries, as well as damages for Holden, including permanent brain injury, pain and loss of enjoyment of life.

“Holden is a little boy who is going to need significant amount of care and treatment for the rest of his life,” said Trevor Savage, lawyer for Gideon Asen. “Medical expenses alone over the course of his life are going to be incredibly high, and that’s only a small fraction of, ultimately, what was taken from him and from Calyx.”

Except for pain in her abdomen, Hemenway said, her pregnancy was normal and uncomplicated until nearly 36 weeks in, when she started experiencing chills, fever and shakiness. Her baby’s fetal movements were also weaker than normal. She called Central Maine Medical Center on Dec. 9, 2022, the lawsuit says, and told a nurse about her symptoms.

She asked if she could “come in and get checked out today” and was told by the nurse, in consultation with Hemenway’s midwife, that she did not require in-person evaluation. By Dec. 11, her condition had worsened, with vomiting and less fetal movement. She called the hospital again.

This time, a different nurse midwife called her back. An audit trail of the hospital’s electronic medical records system revealed this midwife did not access Hemenway’s medical chart, Savage said, which would have shown that it was the second time in less than 48 hours she had called with symptoms.

Hemenway was again advised that “it would be safe and appropriate for her to remain at home,” as long as she continued monitoring fetal movements, the lawsuit says. By the next morning, Hemenway was in the emergency room delivering her baby, who had highly abnormal liver, kidney and heart functions, by emergency Cesarean section.

Holden was born with a “total brain injury from hypoxia,” or lack of oxygen, the lawsuit says, and Hemenway was diagnosed with acute fatty liver of pregnancy, a serious medical condition that can cause liver failure and is only resolved by delivery of the baby.

If she had come into the hospital either day she called, Dec. 9 or 11, the lawsuit says, standard tests would have led to Holden’s delivery before his condition got worse. By not evaluating her in-person, Hemenway argues CMMC directly caused her baby’s “catastrophic and preventable brain injuries.”

Savage said a verdict in Hemenway’s favor would help the family get justice while raising awareness about the standard of obstetrics and gynecology care at the hospital.

“A resolution would say that CMMC is accountable for what it did — or what it didn’t — do, and for what it took from Holden and Calyx,” Savage said.