$1,500,000 Case Settlement For Not Adequately Monitoring Complicated Pregnancy
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-10-03 21:33:43 | Word Count: 796
A variety of factors may turn an otherwise normal pregnancy into a high risk one. One such factor, high blood pressure, placed a pregnant woman at high risk for a placental abruption. This is a condition in which the placenta separates from the uterus prematurely. If this takes place the blood vessels in the vicinity are torn producing bleeding that can considerable decrease the amount of oxygen that reached the baby. If effective and timely measures, such as an emergency C-section, is not taken the baby is in danger of sustaining brain damage that may produce a permanent disability or perhaps die.
Think about a case concerning an expectant mother was admitted to the hospital in the thirty fifth week of her pregnancy for significant hypertension which was induced by the pregnancy. She was in the hospital for five days before anyone in the medical staff ordered that the expectant mother be connected to a fetal heart rate monitor machine. The monitoring was ordered only after the mother's condition worsened. Even though the output of the monitor exposed that the baby was in distress the staff gave the mother drugs to induce her labor.
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After 8 hours of monitoring with the fetal distress becoming severe the medical staff finally determined that she had suffered a placental abruption. Even then another hour passed before the doctor did a C-section. Due to the delay the child suffered a type of brain damage referred to as acute hypoxic-ischemia which is triggered by a loss of oxygen.
The child was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and an died from complications at two and a half. The law firm that represented the baby's family reported that it accomplished a settlement for one and a half million dollars.
As the above lawsuit indicates given that severe high blood pressure can lead to various perilous complications in pregnancy such as placental abruptions it might be malpractice to not detect one when it has happened and take proper and timely steps to protect the baby's health.
Here we have an expectant mother who goes to the hospital equipped to do the required monitoring to check for a possible placental abruption including ultrasound machines and fetal heart rate monitors. The expectant mother is admitted with extreme high blood pressure which is a know risk factor for a placental abruption. However, none of the doctors or nurses at the hospital ordered monitoring her for signs that she might experience a placental abruption until five days into her stay.
There is no mention in the document that the woman had pain in the back or abdomen or that she had vaginal bleeding - indications consistent with a placental abruption. Still not all expectant mothers who experience a placental abruption have these indications. An ultrasound, however, may be able to identify a placental abruption in which the blood is trapped and so the woman does not experience vaginal bleeding. And yet after the fetal distress reached dangerous levels it still took the doctor another hour before performing a C-section.
In pursuing the matter the law firm representing the parents no doubt would, with the help of medical experts, have pointed to the facts of the matters as showing
(1) that the woman's serious hypertension put her in danger of a placental abruption and therefore called for her to be carefully monitored for that possibility,
(2) that there were signs that the baby was in fetal distress and that this situation was allowed to intensify significantly without appropriate action,
(3) that there was yet a futher delay even when the fetal distress reached ominous levels of another hour before a C-section was performed,
(4) that these delays forced the baby to experience a prolonged period of time without an adequate oxygen supply, and
(5) that this lead to brain damage, the development of cerebral palsy, and the eventual death of the baby from complications caused by the cerebral palsy.
and that these delays caused the baby to experience a prolonged period of time without a sufficient oxygen supply, resulting in brain damage, the development of cerebral palsy, and the eventual death of the baby from complications caused by the cerebral palsy.
Even though settlements in these kind of cases are generally reached without any admission of liability on the part of the medical staff or hospital it is not surprising that they agreed to a settlement for $1,500,000.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting medical malpractice cases. You can learn more about placental abruption and other
birth injury matters visit the websites
