$4,500,000 For Mother Who Lost Baby Because of Delay In Medical Care
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-11-03 20:54:57 | Word Count: 582
Paramedics, who are generally the first to arrive on the scene of a medical emergency must give treatment that meets the applicable standard of care. As the first on the scene we count on paramedics to have the knowledge, training, and experience to discern between conditions are capable of being treated at the scene from the ones that need immediate transport to a hospital with the appropriate equipment and full medical staff. Below we examine a claim in which paramedics responded to a pregnant woman who had experienced a placental abruption at almost full term of her pregnancy. The paramedics did not appreciate the symptoms exhibited by the pregnant woman, such as the fact that she was in shock from blood loss, and failed to transport her at once to a hospital. During the time that lapsed the unborn baby's oxygen supply was cut off as a result of the placental abruption.
The lawsuit claimed that the failure on the part of the paramedics to act right away turned into a delay of at least eighteen minutes. In the 18 minute delay before the expecting mother was transported to the hospital the baby was deprived of an appropriate supply of oxygen due to the loss of blood from the placental abruption.. The infant died one day after being born. The mother needed additional surgery for the excessive bleeding she experienced. The bleeding was so major that she temporarily lost kidney function. The law firm that handled this matter sued the paramedics for their failure to recognize the expecting mother's condition and their delay in transporting her to the hospital.
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Every State has its own unique laws regarding medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuits. A number of States have laws which permit only the mother to pursue a lawsuit for the loss of her baby because of malpractice. The State where this claim arose, for example, mandated that in order for a mother to recover for the emotional damage she endured from the loss of her baby she first has to establish that she suffered a physical injury that was caused by the same negligence that caused the death of the baby and that the mother's physical injury would not have typically occurred in a normal childbirth. The woman started going through intense depression six months following losing her newborn. The mother was placed on a schedule of therapy and medication. Despite the therapy and medication, however, her depression lasted as of the time of the law firm's report. She is expected to require the medication for the rest of her life. The mother met every condition.|All three requisites were met in this matter.|Given the injuries the woman herself suffered due to the delay by the paramedics, she was able to go forward with a claim.
The law firm was able to report that they took the case to trial and achieved a verdict of $4.5 million on behalf of the mother. This case serves as an example that if paramedics cause serious injury by failing to meet the standard of care they risk being liable for malpractice.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting medical malpractice cases. To learn more about placental abruption and other birth injury matters including group b strep visit the websites
