Nurse Keeps Waiting For Obstetrician To Arrive Even though Unforn Child Suffers From Fetal Distress
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-11-07 18:23:41 | Word Count: 581
Seeing that fetal distress is a serious problem in pregnancy that frequently entails a loss of oxygen supply to the unborn infant. Fetal distress commonly arises after the unborn baby's oxygen supply is somehow significantly reduced. Fetal distress is noted by monitoring the unborn baby's heart rate. Under certain circumstances, including when the heart rate falls under a particular range, rapid measures for example an emergency C-section is required. Below we examine a reported lawsuit where there was a lapse of around two hours.
An obstetrician is notified that his patient, who is pregnant, was transported to a nearby hospital subsequent to having taken a fall. The woman had gone through an ultrasound at the hospital in an effort to check for any damage to her baby and the ultrasound had been viewed as demonstrating no injuries. Since the hospital was not equipped with a fetal heart rate monitor she was going to be transferred to a second hospital. Her doctor was advised that she was being transferred and the doctor agreed to go to the second hospital. When at the second hospital a fetal heart rate monitor was connected to the woman. The labor and delivery nurse at this hospital read the strip as non-reassuring and indicating that the unborn child was in fetal distress. Knowing that the woman's doctor had indicated he would see his patient there, the nurse decided that the appropriate course of action would be to hold out for the obstetrician to turn up, even as she saw that the fetal distress was worsening.
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For the following two hours the nurse kept postponing notifying another physician that the unborn child was in fetal distress. She did nothing until the monitor indicated that the baby's heart rate had precipitously dropped to dangerously low levels. At that point the nurse finally advised another physician at the hospital of the situation. This physician conducted an emergency C-section immediately and determined that the reason for the fetal distress was that the pregnant woman had suffered a placental abruption which had cut off the baby's oxygen supply.
But the patient's obstetrician had gone home instead of going to the hospital as he had indicated he would - essentially abandoning his patient and her baby and making him a defendant in the lawsuit. Believing the obstetrician was heading toward the hospital the nurse at the second hospital, who might normally have promptly called another doctor of the fetal distress, waited and continued to wait for two hours for a doctor who would never appear.
At birth the baby was non-responsive. Despite the fact that the medical staff attempted resuscitative measures they could not revive the baby. The law firm that litigated the claim was able to report that they achieved a settlement totaling $750,000 on behalf of the baby's parents. This case demonstrates both (1) a physician's duty to follow up on the care of a patient when he agrees to do so and (2) a nurse's duty to make sure that a physician is notified without delay when signs of fetal distress are observed.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting catastrophic injury and medical malpractice cases. For additional information about fetal distress and placental abruption cases visit the websites
