Evidence That Once Doctor Missed Symptoms Of Umbilical Cord Compression Child Ended Up With Cerebral Palsy Led Jury To Award Family $15.8 Million
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-09-11 22:36:50 | Word Count: 619
Pregnancy brings with it the possibility of complications a number of of which may, if not diagnosed and treated promptly, result in considerable harm to the baby and the mother. An umbilical cord compression is a particularly considerable risk to the baby. This situation occurs when excessive pressure is placed on the umbilical cord. Conditions under which this appears include when the cord slips into the birth canal and becomes compressed as the baby descends, or when the umbilical cords becomes wrapped around the baby's neck (called a nuchal cord). The reason this complication is so threatening for the baby is that it ends up depriving the baby of a vital supply of blood and oxygen.
If doctors or nurses find a significant slowing down of the baby's heart rate they should consider a cord compression as a possible reason. This is specially true if the heart rate slows downs in waves or episodes - a pattern that is known as decelerations. Because an unborn baby cannot survive long without suffering a severe brain injury or even dying, the necessary supply of oxygen needs to be restored right away. If the compression is not significant then repositioning the mother to eliminate pressure on the cord, or giving her oxygen and fluids, may alleviate the problem. These tactics are not always successful in resolving the complication and restoring oxygen supply to the baby. In such situations, a physician may need to do an emergency C-section.
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By not timely diagnosing a cord compression and taking the correct action right away a physician or nurse might lead to a delay that ends in considerable harm or even the death of the baby. When this happens that physician or nurse might be liable in a lawsuit for medical malpractice or wrongful death. In one reported lawsuit, an expectant mother, at full term, showed up at the hospital for the planned delivery of her baby. The staff administered Pitocin to induce labor. Following the administration of the drug, the fetal heart rate monitor showed several umbilical cord compressions as decelerations of the unborn baby's heart rate. The staff repositioned the mother after which the baby's heart rate went back to normal.
At one point, the pregnant woman had to use the bathroom at which point the obstetrics resident disconnected her from the fetal heart rate monitor. The monitor remained disconnected for an entire 11 minutes. During this time, the cord was compressed and the baby's supply of oxygen was badly restricted. As a result, the baby suffered from asphyxia which left the baby with mental retardation and with cerebral palsy.
The law firm which helped the family introduced evidence at trial that, given the history of decelerations, disconnecting the fetal heart rate monitor for those crucial eleven minutes was below the acceptable standard of care. Basically, it came with too high a risk that there might be further umbilical cord compressions that would not be identified and therefore would not, and indeed did not, lead to the application of additional procedures like further position changes and, if required, an emergency C-section that could have prevented the child from sustaining brain damage. The law firm announced that the jury returned a verdict of $15.8 million for the family.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting medical malpractice and birth injury cases. To learn more about birth injury cases including those involving group b strep matters visit the website
