Medical Malpractice Case For Child With Cerebral Palsy Due To Delayed C-Section Settles For $2,900,000
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-12-21 21:59:21 | Word Count: 627
Complications, including fetal distress, can arise in a pregnancy during labor and delivery that put the health of the baby in danger. Such complications need that a physician take fast action. Regrettably, it is not rare for lawyers who handle birth injury matters to come across those in which a doctor failed to respond to increasingly ominous indications that the baby's health is at risk and the time that passes without action may result in the baby developing severe irreversible disabilities.
The report of one lawsuit described that after being admitted to a hospital a nineteen year old expectant mother at full-term was examined and noted to have an irritable uterus and very frequent contractions. A pregnant woman with an irritable uterus is having contractions too often caused by irritation. There are a number of problems that can result in an irritable uterus and very frequent contractions, for instance an infection and a placental abruption. Both may bring about fetal distress and could necessitate an emergency C-section to safeguard the baby's health.
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The doctor decided to use medication to accelerate the woman's labor. The medication may greatly augment the irritability of the uterus and can increase the frequency of contractions. Even in cases where the woman's labor is advancing without issues arising the administration of these labor accelerating drugs requires careful monitoring in case signs of fetal distress start to appear. Yet in this case the woman had already exhibited an irritable uterus and frequent contractions.
Then a very significant event happened as the expectant mother was in labor. The fetal heart rate monitor revealed that the unborn baby was in distress. Physicians typically acknowledge that an emergency C-section is the appropriate course of action when this happens so as to avoid an irreversible injury to the child due to a lack of oxygen. The physician, however, had her begin pushing no less than 45 minutes. After the 45 minutes the doctor at last did a C-section. The baby was not breathing at two minutes. The Apgar scores were 2, 6, and 7. Ten hours afterward seizures began. The child developed cerebral palsy. The law firm that handled this lawsuit reported that a settlement was achieved for $2.9 Million.
Physicians know that fetal distress is a highly risky complication of labor whereby the unborn baby's own environment inside the expectant mother has changed and is posing a danger to the baby's health. Extended exposure to such an environment might result in serious injury such as brain damage. Doctors thus generally propose that when an unborn baby is in fetal distress which cannot be rectified, an emergency C-section is the recommended thing to do. This lawsuit shows that a failure to conduct an emergency C-section in the presence of fetal distress and other sings of complications may result in a medical malpractice lawsuit.
The discussion above is meant for basic informational purposes only and is not to be used as medical or legal advice. For any medical concerns you need to contact a physician right away. Furthermore if you think that your child was harmed because of medical malpractice you ought to seek the advise of a lawyer. Given that the law restricts the amount of time you and your child have to pursue a lawsuit you should consult with an attorney immediately.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting birth injury cases. For a free attorney consultation concerning fetal distress and other other birth injury matters including group b strep visit the websites
