Family Recovers For Child Harmed When Doctors Took Too Long To Perform A C-Section
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-12-21 21:59:27 | Word Count: 719
As the time comes closer to childbirth many feelings go through the expectant parent. One thought stands apart among all the rest - let my child be well. And to ensure the unborn child's health parents place themselves and their unborn child in the hands of physicians and nurses. After all they are the experts with the training, skill and experience to take care of any problems that might present themselves.
Yet all too often a number of doctors, when faced with evidence suggesting the existence of indications of a potential dangerous complication, like a placental abruption, look as if either (1) discount the evidence if it is provided to them by nurses or junior doctors or (2) be too interested with other issues to take notice and take proper action. And at these times nurses and junior doctors occasionally fail to seek out others who have the ability to take reasonable steps.
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One form of significant complication is a placental abruption. A Placental abruption is a situation in which the placenta, which makes available nutrients and oxygen to the unborn baby, detaches prematurely from the mother's uterus. As this occurs blood vessels are torn producing blood loss which may deprive the baby of necessary oxygen and can result in having the mother go into shockk.
Therefore, spotting that the expectant mother has had a placental abruption and taking appropriate action immediately is critical. Yet, doctors every so often fail to realize that a placental abruption is happening and so fail to take timely steps to safeguard the health of the baby. The result can be a severe injury to, or even the demise of, the child. Consider what took place in a documented lawsuit in which a pregnant woman, at full term, went to the hospital for the scheduled birth of her baby.
A resident examined her and monitored her progress. A doctor specializing in family medicine was the resident's designated supervisor. During this time, the resident concluded that there were signs that the woman's unborn child was suffering from fetal distress. The resident apprised the supervising physician of this but the supervising doctor ignored the resident's concerns without as much as examining the woman or reading the output of the fetal heart rate monitor. The resident then brought the matter to the attention of the hospital's on-call obstetrician. Like the the supervising family practice physician, the on-call obstetrician did not bother to personally check the woman and took no action. Yet, the monitor continued to show fetal distress.
The mother wound up having a placental abruption. Now, unable to locate the supervision doctor or the on-call obstetriciant, the resident took matters into his own hands and performed an emergency C-section even though the resident was not authorized to perform a C-section at the hospital. Still it was already too late as the child had already experienced brain damage from a lack of oxygen caused by the placental abruption. The law firm that handled this lawssuit reported that they were able to obtain a settlement. The settlement amount was undisclosed but did include a $20 Million Life Care Plan for the child.
Obviously, the resident in this case was concerned by the developments. The resident notified both the supervising physician and the on-call obstetrician. Neither reacted. Possibly they were preoccupied. Maybe they ignored the content given to them by a mere resident. Ultimately, the resident evidently was worried enough about the fetal distress to go forward with an emergency C-section, even without hospital privileges to perform that procedure.
This type of breakdown in procedure, may as in this lawsuit, lead to severe harm to patients. Whatever the reason why the two board certified physicians chose not to act, the result was a medical malpractice claim. Because of the severitye and enduring nature of the harm to the baby it is evident that these sorts of lawsuits may have a sizeable value.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting placental abruption cases. For further information on placental abruption and other
birth injury matters visit the websites
