Fetal Distress Comes With Symptoms: What Happens In The Event Doctors Ignore Them
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-09-18 22:32:19 | Word Count: 634
Severe complications might take place after a pregnant woman commences labor and before she delivers her baby. Doctors ought to track the woman's labor. They are also responsible for recognizing indiciations that a complication has arisen which can jeopardize the wellbeing of the unborn child. They are also responsible for taking appropriate, timely action. If they fail to do so, as when a physician refuses to budge from hir or her opinion that the expectant mother's labor is advancing without problems and that the unborn baby is in no risk even when the available information clearly indicates otherwise, the result may be a baby with a lifelong impairment - a disability that was preventable.
Think about the incident in which a hospital admitted an expectant mother who was in active labor from her pregnancy. The nurse who checked her progress read the results of the fetal heart rate monitor as reassuring. This continued for nine hours. Then the circumstances changed. The fetal heart rate monitor recorded a continuous rise in the unborn child's heart rate. The rate gpt up to the 170-180 range. The doctor responsible for the woman's care knew of the rise in the rate at which the unborn child's heart was beating yet deemed the situation as a normal labor which did not call for an immediate action. The physician kept to this position and actually ended up performing a vaginal delivery.
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Once the baby was born he was transferred to NICU. Once at NICU he was in lengthy initial depression and experienced respiratory distress. Testing showed that he had bleeding in the brain and that there was an accumulation of blood under the scalp. Within days an MRI showed that the baby had suffered brain damage. This sort of brain damage is consistent with the loss of oxygen prior to birth which would account for the severe fetal distress documented in the fetal heart rate monitor.
In a matter of days the baby began having seizures. As the child grew it became evident that he had major difficulty with speech, and he had problems with motor control. The law firm that pursued this lawsuit reported that they were able to obtain a settlement on behalf of the child and his family for in the amount of $1.0 million.
The preceeding is illustrates the way in which a physician can become entirely blinded to the presence of signs know to be associated with the presence of a severe complication during labor. The obstetrician held onto the opinion that the unborn baby's heart rate readout was normal even as the situation worsened and the tracing clearly demonstrated that the baby was in serious distress. Thus the doctor did nothing to correct the developing situation. Instead, the obstetrician continued with the vaginal delivery as planned.
The physician essentially acted in a way consistent with the belief that everything was fine during labor. Attorneys who handle birth injury cases observe this phenomenon all too regularly. Unfortunately, while one would expect that a physician who makes this type of mistake will learn from it, some doctors instead deny any suggestion that they did something improper. Regardless of whether they acknowledge their error, the guidelines plainly identify the action that ought to be done when an unborn child is in significant fetal distress. Attorneys experienced in handling birth injury lawsuits can help protect the child's future by working toward a suitable settlement or award.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting fetal distress cases. For additional information about fetal distress and erb’s palsy visit the websites
