Medical Malpractice Lawsuits For Babies With Cerebral Palsy Resolved By Multi-Million Dollar Jury Verdicts
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-08-03 12:28:41 | Word Count: 787
Nurses play a critical role in the medical health care system. Nurses frequently take responsibility for monitoring patients and advising physicians about any difference in the patient's condition that could impact the patient's wellbeing. Occasionally, though, perhaps from insufficient knowledge, training, or experience, a nurse does not either observe that there has been a worsening of the patient's health or does not report that change to a doctor.
One lawsuit reported recently revealed the way an expectant mother went to the hospital with complaints of nausea and vomiting. The expectant mother was admitted to the hospital where a nurse in training was placed in charge of her. The nurse trainee read the results as normal, determining that the baby was fine and in no danger, even though they in fact revealed signs of severe fetal distress, a situation which calls for immediate attention. The woman was sent home not knowing that her baby was suffering from a lack of oxygen..
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The delivery occurred three days after the visit to the hospitalafter 3 days. This was the scheduled delivery date. She needed therapy. She was not able to eat on her own and hence had to be fed with a feeding tube. For four years she had to live with seizures. And she passed away from complications of the cerebral palsy. She was survived by her father and mother and by her two older brothers. One was 11 and one was 16. The law firm that filed a lawsuit on the family's behalf reported that the case was tried and that at the end of the trial the jury returned a verdict in favor of the parents for $4,400,000.
The following example is a recently published claim involving a pregnant woman who reported to the hospital for a scheduled natural delivery of her child. She had a C-section in an earlier pregnancy. But, the nurse administered a drug generally employed to induce labor. The application of this drug , however, should be diligently supervised because it can lead to overstimulation of the uterus and end up a significant problem particularly at higher dosages. The nurse did not inform the attending physician that the pregnant woman's contractions became irregular Instead, as the contractions increased to clearly unsafe levels, she continued to give the woman the drug.
The baby was deprived of vital oxygen for a period of roughly 18-20 minutes from what was later determined to be a uterine rupture. The baby was in fetal distress during this time - a condition that can be tracked by a machine which monitors the unborn child's heart rate. The diagnosis: cerebral palsy. As a result, the child will never be able to talk or to walk. He will never be able to hold anything in his hands. He will never be able to eat on his own. He will always need to be fed with a feeding tube. He will always need full-time life assistance. He does, though, recognize his family and he is aware. The law firm that represented the child and his parents was able to report that at trial the jury delivered an award of $31,000,000 with included $26,000,000 to pay for the cost of the child's future medical care.
As the two matters discussed explain, a mistake by a nurse can have tragic outcomes for a patient, and in case of a pregnancy, two lives are can be changed forever. The nurse may later face a medical malpractice lawsuit. With the severity of the harm that can occur to both the mother and her baby from these kinds of errors the recovery from this type of a claim can be sizeable. In case you feel your child sustained a significant injury due to a nurse's mistake, you should seek the advise of a medical malpractice attorney. Since a plaintiff only has a limited amount of time to file a claim in Court you ought to contact an attorney immediately.
If your infant endured a serious injury due to group b strep and you suspect medical malpractice was involved, you should consult an a lawyer immediately. The lawyer should be able to inform you how much time, if any, remains to file a claim and help you determine whether to go forward with a claim.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting medical malpractice cases. You can learn more about fetal distress and group b streptococcus visit the website
