$7,200,000 Jury Award In Medical Malpractice Case Concerning Baby's Brain Injury
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-11-04 14:22:39 | Word Count: 702
Any of several complications can severely restrict the amount of oxygen reaching an unborn baby, causing the baby to be in fetal distress. If the baby loses necessary oxygen for an extended period of time the baby can die or be left with irreversible disabilities including but not limited to brain damage, cerebral palsy, blindness, and seizure disorders. Once an expectant mother is admitted for labor and delivery doctors and nurses need to properly follow her and her unborn baby and they are supposed to possess enough knowledge, training and experience needed to identify and respond to indications of fetal distress.
The following case is an example.
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An expectant mother went to the hospital for the scheduled delivery of her baby. The doctor was not present when she arrived and so she was given an examination by a nurse. The nurse documented both the presence of meconium in the amniotic fluid in addition to abnormal readings from the fetal heart rate monitor. The heart rate tracings suggested fetal distress. The nurse called and advised the physician. Having received the information the physician nonetheless decided to hold off going to the hospital. He did not have another doctor take over and simply has the nurse take away the fetal heart rate monitor, the one vital technology that could provide information about the condition of the baby.
In all, the physician failed to report to the hospital for almost 7 hours. The physician at last saw the expectant mother but just turned her treatment over to a different physician. Upon learning of the nurse's observations that doctor performed an emergency C-section. The damage had already taken place. The infant sustained brain damage. The infant had experienced a lack of oxygen for too long and had sustained brain damage by the time the covering physician performed the C-section. As a consequence of the brain damage, the child will experience irreversible disabilities that include both mental as well as physical retardation, the use of a feeding tube, and a seizure disorder. The law firm that represented the family was able to report after the trial the jury awarded $7,200,000 (including interest).
As this case demonstrates sometimes doctors and nurses do not respond with the urgency commensurate with the risk that some labor complications present. What occurred in the case discussed above is beyond comprehension. First, after being informed of a number of abnormal signs by the nurse the physician not only decided to wait before going to the hospital but in fact instructed the nurse to disconnect the monitor - the one source of critical information about the health of the unborn baby. It is almost as if the physician did not want to be informed of further indications of complications.
The nurse might have informed a different physician of the circumstances. But, the nurse deferred to the physician's rank and authority. After ultimately arriving at the hospital and seeing the expectant mother the physician turned over her care to another physician. However, even though by all signs the other physician acted appropriately, it was too late to avoid permanent harm to the infant.
An unborn child is at risk of significant and lifelong injuries when physicians and nurses do not take immediate action when confronted with indications of fetal distress. The case additionally demonstrates that when this happens these doctors and nurses may be held liable for not taking proper actions and thus not meeting the applicable standard of care. This is the level of professional responsibility to which we hold doctors and nurses. As soon as they fall short and their actions or lack of actions result in an injury to a child they might be liable under a medical malpractice claim. Given the severity of the harm to the infant the compensation from such cases can be substantial.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting fetal distress cases. You can learn more about fetal distress and other birth injury matters including group b strep and
erb's palsy visit the websites
