$750,000 Settlement After Baby Passed Away While Doctor Stayed Away Home And Nurse Just Waited
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-12-11 00:23:26 | Word Count: 600
Expectant mothers pick their obstetrician meticulously. And then over the course of their pregnancy they build a bond with the doctor and begin to have faith in him or her. They often trust their obstetrician, who has been following the pregnancy throughout, is intimately aware of their situation.
Now envision the way an expectant mother may feel near full-term, looking at a considerable problem with her pregnancy, being told that her doctor is on the way to care for her and take care of the the complication. Envision the numerous emotions that must go through this woman's mind - she would like to wait for her doctor as has placed her faither in him or her and yet she grows more and more worried about the health of her unborn child precious time continues to pass without any sign of her obstetrician. Still she would moreover probably trust that the nurses and staff at the hospital would take any necessary steps if there were any actual danger to her baby.
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In a reported matter an woman who, at near term of her pregnancy, was taken to a hospital after she fell to check on the welfare of her unborn child. An ultrasound was read as negative and as not showing harm to the unborn child from the mother's fall. The woman continued to be concerned about the wellbeing of her child and requested fetal heart rate monitoring. Because the hospital did not have the proper equipment they arranged to have her transferred to a different hospital which did. The staff contacted the expectant mother's obstetrician who told them that he would meet her at the other hospital.
The physician was not present when the expectant mother got to the other hospital. The staff began monitoring the unborn child' heart beat with a fetal heart rate monitor. The readings from the fetal heart monitor suggested that her unborn baby was in fetal distress and that the situation was getting worse. The staff waited for 2 hours for the physician to arrive. During this time the unborn baby's heard rate went down to dangerous levels. At this point the labor and delivery nurse finally called in an on call obstetrician.
This obstetrician carried out an emergency C-section. This obstetrician noticed that the fetal distress had been due to a placental abruption which had restricted the oxygen supply to the baby. The baby was asphyxiated at birth. Apgar scores were and . The medical staff could not resuscitate the baby.
The law firm that handled this lawsuit learned that the woman's obstetrician, athough committing to going to the second hospital to see his patient, had instead gone home and simply failed to take the time to tell the hospital staff about that choice. And the labor and delivery nurse, the only one who had information that the baby was in fetal distress, made the decision to continue to wait for the obstetrician. The nurse did not contact the obstetrician herself to report the fetal distress and did not bring it to the attention of the in-house obstetrician until the situation became dire. With this, the law firm published that they reached a settlement totaling $750,000 for the baby's parents.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting birth injury cases. For further information on placental abruption and other
birth injury matters visit the websites
