Doctor Settles Malpractice Case Claiming She Missed Baby’s Group B Strep Infection
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-12-05 03:19:25 | Word Count: 539
When a newborn with a Group B Strep infection does not immediately receive antibiotics the outcome can be disastrous. Given this it is critical for physicians to check out GBS if a baby exhibits signs of an infection and either rule it out with diagnostic testing or observe the treatment protocol. In the remainder of this article, we analyze a claim that resulted after a baby who showed symptoms of a Group B Strep infection was not diagnosed in a timely fashion by the physician.
Look at a published lawsuit where antibiotics for GBS were intravenously administered to an expectant mother while she was in labor. This is common procedure for women who were carriers of GBS during the pregnancy, a previous pregnancy, or if screened while in weeks 35 through 37 of the current pregnancy. Still, even with the appropriate use of antibiotics while the mother was in labor, it is still possible that the newborn will acquire Group B Strep. The mother’s newborn appeared healthy at birth. Bur, six weeks after birth the baby developed symptoms of infection. The mother took the baby to a pediatrician who observed that the child had a high fever. The doctor, however, failed to look at the prenatal records although she had access to them.
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Without seeing the prenatal records the pediatrician merely ordered testing so as to determine what was causing the baby’s high fever. While the physician waited for the results of the tests she ordered. She failed to, however, give antibiotics for a group b strep infection. The baby came down with meningitis. The baby in addition experienced a series of strokes. This left the baby with mental retardation and seizures that are not treatable with medication .
The mother sued the physician for failing to diagnose the Group B Strep infection and render treatment in a timely fashion. As the matter progressed the physician admitted that she would not have delayed giving antibiotics had she became aware that the mother had been a carrier of the bacteria during the pregnancy. The law firm that handled the matter published that the pediatrician settled the lawsuit for $6,150,000.
There is a key point that this claim brings out. If there is a possibility that symptoms can be the result of a dangerous underlying condition, like a Group B Strep infection, that may result in lifelong disabilities for the child unless antibiotics are given right away a physician is expected to take them into account as a possibility unless the physician can establish a different cause When, as in the lawsuit discussed herein, the physician acts as if it is not even a possibility, particularly when there is information in the mother’s prenatal chart to suggest it could be, and the infant is severely harmed in the time that passes before treatment is provided, the physician may be liable for malpractice.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting complex injury cases. You can learn more about group b streptococcus and other birth injury cases such as erbs palsy injury claims by visiting the websites
