Multi-Million Dollar Case For Birth Injury Following Doctor Error
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-12-21 21:59:15 | Word Count: 593
A placental abruption can happen when the placenta prematurely detaches from the mother's uterus. Symptoms include pain and abnormal bleeding in the pregnant woman and by a drop in the heart rate of the unborn child. Should a placental abruption not be diagnosed promptly and a physician does not execute an emergency C-section, both the pregnant woman and the baby could suffer considerable injuries or even die.
Consider the following documented situation, a pregnant woman was admitted to the hospital after she began labor. Shortly thereafter, her baby's heart rate decreased from 150 to 90 putting the baby in severe fetal distress. Despite the nurse's attempts to raise the heart rate she could not and the nurse called the mother's physician. Roughly 15 minutes after the doctor was contacted and thirty minutes after the mother had been admitted, he arrived at the hospital. After an examination of the mother he believed that she needed to undergo an emergency C-section. However, as he did not have the credentials to perform this operation so the mother was required to wait for a obstetrician to come to the hospital.
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About forty minutes after the woman was admitted the obstetrician got to the hospital. Following a quick examination the doctor diagnosed her with partial placental abruption and requested a surgical team to do the C-Section. About an hour after the mother was admitted her emergency C-section finally happened. Yet, the child was not delivered soon enough. She sustained severe brain damage which placed her in a permanent vegetative state which requires constant care. The mother additionally had complications related to the birth and she was required to undergo a hysterectomy, making her unable to have any other children.
After the incident the family hired a lawyer and filed a case against her physician. They were successful in the position that if the doctor had called the surgical team after the nurse called him, the injuries to the baby and the mother never would have occurred. If this had happened the mother would have had a C-section about 30 minutes after she had been admitted. Furthermore, the mother testified at trial, over the physician's denial, that the physician informed her that he ought to have contacted the surgical team earlier.
As a result of this incident the baby was in a permanent vegetative state requiring around the clock care. The baby has a life expectancy of twenty years. Considering this and the emotional distress and physical damages suffered by the the family, their lawyer was successful in achieving a jury verdict for the sum of $7 million, with $3.2 million to the child, $2.3 million to her mother and $1.5 million to her father.
This claim reveals that in situations in which a child endures a permanent impairment due to a physician's error juries are willing to give the child and family an amount sufficient to provide for the future care of the child. Parents who believe their baby was hurt due to medical malpractice should consult with a birth injury lawyer without delay as the law restricts the amount of time within which a claim must be filed.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting complex injury cases. You can find out about placental abruption and other birth injury cases such as group b streptococcus matters by visiting the websites
