Placental Abruption Was Not Detected By Physician Despite Woman's Symptoms
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-11-10 01:03:47 | Word Count: 780
Patients have particular things that they want from their physicians. This is most likely never more true than when the patient is an expectant mother who is entrusting the physician with the wellbeing of her baby. First, it is essential for the physician to consider the mother's own intuition. During the pregnancy she learns to tell something is not right If the doctor does not pay attention to her intuition that something is not right without even checking to make certain the outcome can be devestating
Further, the physician ought to recognize and react to signs suspicious for a serious problem. After all, isn't this what they are taught and trained to be able to do? It is a natural parental instinct to wish, to trust, that nothing bad happens to thier unborn child and the child is born healthy. It may feel like a terrible betrayal of the trust placed on the doctor that he or she will be able to recognize when a problem arises in the pregnancy particularly in case it is a complication that jeopardizes the life of the unborn baby.
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In the real world, however, there is always the possibility that the pregnancy can take a very bad turn. Consider the case of a woman in the seventh month of her pregnancy, was admitted at the hospital by her doctor with complaints of back pain, abdominal pain, and persistent vaginal bleeding. The doctor concluded that she was not in labor and that the tracings from the fetal heart rate monitor were reassuring and showed no signs of fetal distress. The doctor discharged the woman even thought she continued to complain of abdominal pain and continued to have vaginal bleeding.
Later that same afternoon, after the abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding increased, she saw her doctor. On examinig the expectant mother, the doctor sent her to the hospital for delivery of her child. She had significant hemorrhaging on the way to the hospital. Once at the hospital they immediately prepared her for an emergency C-section but the child was stillborn before they could. The mother needed transfusions due to the heavy loss of blood. The cause of the pain and vaginal bleeding was established to be a placental abruption. The law firm that represented the mother documented that it went to trial and achieved a jury award for $1.65 million on behalf of the parents.
In this situation, the woman felt that what was happening to her was not normal. She knew that something was different with her pregnancy. Her intuition was letting her know that there was a problem with the pregnancy and so she went to the hospital to see her physician. Still the doctor ignored the very complaints for which she took herself to the hospital. The physician evidently looked into just that she was not in labor and that the fetal heart rate monitor indicated no abnormalities in the baby's hearbeat. The doctor took a negative result to these two as enough to decide that there was nothing wrong.
Certainly, an abnormal heart rate would have been an indication that she was having a dangerous complication in need of appropriate follow up immediately. But so was the fact that she hd constant pain and bleeding. And they were totally ignored - in effect, the doctor likewise dismissed the patient's intuition.
The physician likewise apparently never even regarded a placental abruption in the differential diagnosis for the pain even though collectively they are know to be correlated with a placental abruption. This is not how physicians would generally suggest is the proper way to evaluate a patient's situation. It was not until the situation worsened later in the day that the physician had her go to the hospital for an emergency C-section.
Incidents like this happen in hospitals and physician's offices all too frequently. If the health of an unborn child is concerned the consequences of such digressions from what the patient expects of the physician can lead to the death of the child. Moreover the doctor's actions may be more than merely a deviation from the patient's wishes, they may even be a departure from the standard of care the physician should deliver. If that is the case the family might have a medical malpractice/wrongful death lawsuit against the doctor.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting placental abruption cases. To learn more about placental abruption and other
birth injury matters including erb’s palsy visit the websites
