Physician And Nurse Pay Out After Letting Fetal Distress Worsen And Unborn Child Dies
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-06-24 21:37:28 | Word Count: 618
Because fetal distress is a dangerous complication in pregnancy that frequently entails a diminished oxygen supply to the unborn infant. Thus, if fetal distress is noted steps need to be taken without delay to circumvent harm to the baby. Below we consider the issue of liability in a reported lawsuit involving a delay of approximately 2 hours in reacting to signs of fetal distress. We also look at the ensuing damages and the amount of the settlement.
In this matter a pregnant woman who had fallen was being admitted to a hospital to make sure that there had been no trauma to her unborn child. The patient had gone through an ultrasound at the hospital in order to look for any injury to her baby and the ultrasound was viewed as displaying no injuries. The physician arranged to meet the woman at a second hospital to which she was going to be transferred so as to have other monitoring which the first hospital was not adequately outfitted to carry out. Upon her arrival at the second hospital a fetal heart rate monitor was connected to the woman. The labor and delivery nurse at this hospital read the results as non-reassuring and indicating that the unborn baby was in fetal distress. The second hospital and the nurse had been advised that the woman's obstetrician was heading to that hospital to look after the woman and her unborn child. Even though clearly having noted that the baby was in fetal distress, the nurse nevertheless concluded that she needed to wait for the doctor to show up as opposed to taking any measures on her own or calling in an on-call physician.
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The nurse kept waiting for the obstetrician to appear for 2 hours. She kept waiting until the monitor suggested that the baby's heart rate had had dropped to a critically low level. At that point the nurse finally informed another doctor at the hospital of the situation. This physician conducted an emergency C-section right away but determined that the reason for the fetal distress was that the pregnant woman had suffered a placental abruption which had restricted the unborn child's oxygen supply.
The obstetrician knew the expectant mother was being sent to the second hospital and expected her physician to meet her there. But, rather than go to the hospital as he stated he would do, the obstetrician went home. This would not have been a problem if the obstetrician had notified the staff at the second hospital of this decision. Believing the doctor was heading toward the hospital the nurse at the second hospital, who may usually have promptly notified a different physician of the fetal distress, waited and continued to wait for 2 hours for a doctor who would never show up.
The infant was not breathing after being delivered. The Apgar scores were 0 and 0. The infant could not be revived by the medical staff. Here the law firm that represented the family reported that the case settled for $750,000. This case demonstrates both (1) a physician's duty to follow up on the care of his patient once he agrees to do so and (2) a nurse's duty to make sure that a doctor is notified instantly if signs of fetal distress are detected.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting fetal distress cases. You can learn more about fetal distress and erbs palsy visit the website
