Fetal Distress Comes With Symptoms: What Happens When Doctors Miss Them
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-11-09 13:17:23 | Word Count: 610
Problems that place at risk the health of an unborn baby can come in when an expectant mother goes into labor. When a woman goes to a hospital for labor and delivery the expectation is that she will be closely monitored, that the physicians and nurses handling her care will be able to detect any signs of complications, and that they will take the right action at the right time. The failure to do so can contribute to a long-term injury to the baby and may leave the physicians and nurses who were responsible for the injury to the child liable for medical malpractice.
Reflect on the lawsuit where a hospital admitted an expectant mother who was in active labor from her pregnancy. The nurse who monitored the woman's progress interpreted the tracings of the fetal heart rate monitor as ndicating that everything was normal. This continued for nine hours. Then the situation changed. The fetal heart rate monitor recorded a steady rise in the unborn child's heart rate. The rate reached the 170-180 range. The obstetrician responsible for the expectant mother's care was aware of the rise in the rate at which the unborn child's heart was beating yet deemed the circumstances as a normal labor requiring no emergency steps. The obstetrician continued with this position and in fact ended up doing a vaginal delivery.
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The infant was moved to the NICU where he went into respiratory distress following a prolonged initial depression. A CT scan exposed both a subarachnoid hemorrhage (bleeding under the membrane covering the brain) and a left cephalohematoma (a collection of blood under the scalp). Wthin a couple of days an MRI showed brain damage consistent with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (a form of injury to the brain due to the loss of oxygen).
A few days later the baby began having seizures. As the child grew it became clear that he had major limitations with speech, and he had trouble controlling his movements. The law firm that represented the family published that they settled it on behalf of the child and his family for in the amount of $1.0 million.
This case illustrates an all too common phenomenon. The physician faced with a situation in which the unborn child was obviously in fetal distress. The doctor nonetheless continued as if labor was proceeding without incident. The physician saw the complication taking place and worsening literally right before his eyes. It is as though as time went on this physician's threshold for figuring out that the baby was in jeopardy became progressively more difficult to fulfill so that even when the fetal distress had reached an ominous stage, the doctor still proceeded with a vaginal delivery as opposed to performing an emergency C-section.
This doctor acted as if labor was progressing problem free. All the evidence needed to recognize that the baby was in fetal distress and required attention immediately were there, right in front of the physician. It is hard to say if this doctor learned anything from this mistake so as not to repeat it again with another baby in the future. In cases in which a doctor has made a mistake that injures the baby for life, though, an experienced birth injury attorney can help the family In pursuing a claim to protect the child's future.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting medical malpractice cases. You can learn more about fetal distress and streptococcus meningitis visit the websites
