As the time comes closer to childbirth many thoughts go through the expectant parent. One thought stands out among all the rest - let my baby be healthy. And to ensure the health of their unborn baby parents place themselves and their baby in the hands of doctors and nurses. After all they are the professionals with the training, skill and experience to handle any complications that might arise.
Yet all too often some physicians, when faced with information about the existence of signs of a possible serious complication, such as a placental abruption, appear to either (1) discount the information if it is given to them by nurses or junior doctors or (2) be too occupied with other issues to pay attention and take appropriate action. And when this happens nurses and junior doctors sometimes fail to seek out others who have the authority to take appropriate action.
Consider the following two case:
Case 1:
This case a pregnant woman's admission to a hospital for labor and delivery of her baby. Responsible for monitoring the woman's progress was a resident who was under a family practice physician's supervision. When the fetal heart rate monitor started showing signs that the unborn baby was in fetal distress the resident consulted with the supervising family practice physician. The supervising physician did not bother to personally check on the woman and did not act on the information. The resident then also consulted with the hospital's on-call obstetrician. The on-call obstetrician also did not bother to personally check on the woman and also did not act on the information.
The unborn baby continued to experience fetal distress. The mother ended up suffering from a placental abruption. At this point the resident, whose privileges did not include C-sections, actually went forward with an emergency C-section without either the family supervising practice physician or the on-call obstetrician. The baby had already suffered from severe hypoxic brain damage as a result of the placental abruption. The law firm that handled this matter reported that they were able to obtain a settlement which included a Life Care Plan with a value of $20 Million for the child in addition to a settlement for a confidential amount.
Case 2:
In this case labor was medically induced by her obstetrician after a woman was admitted to the hospital 11 days past her due date. At that point the obstetrician left the hospital. The first signs of complications became noticeable within the next twenty minutes when the fetal heard rate dropped and the mother started having extended contractions. The obstetrician was notified of these changes by the nurse who had been left to monitor the woman's progress. The obstetrician chose to not return to the hospital at that time. The obstetrician was then paged by the nurse twenty five minutes later. The obstetrician took an additional thirty five minutes to return.
On returning to the hospital the obstetrician ordered an emergency C-section. It became apparent that in the hour since the obstetrician was first notified of troubling signs the mother had suffered from a placental abruption without visible bleeding. The resulting injuries to the baby include cerebral palsy and the inability to walk or to talk. The doctor and the nurse blamed each other for the delay. A confidential settlement was reported by the law firm that handled this matter.
As these cases illustrate sometimes physicians ignore signs of complications that can place the unborn baby at risk of serious harm. In both cases, experienced physicians, indeed board certified physicians, did not bother to personally examine their patient after being notified of troubling signs. In one of the cases the physician even left the hospital for over an hour.
In the first case the resident monitoring the mother was clearly troubled by the developments. The resident notified both the supervising physician and the on-call obstetrician but neither responded. They may have simply discounted the information given to them by a mere resident. The resident apparently became so concerned about the lack of interest by the two board certified physicians to perform an emergency C-section, even without hospital privileges to do so. This case appears to exemplify a procedural failure.
In the second case the nurse notified the woman's obstetrician of troubling signs on more than one occasion. Clearly, once notified of changes suggestive of a potentially serious complication the obstetrician has a duty to either immediately return to the hospital or pass the care of his patient to another physician until the obstetrician can return. It may be that the obstetrician simply discounted the information received from a mere nurse.
The nurse, however, never notified any other physicians in the hospital about the complications. Perhaps the nurse simply did not comprehend the magnitude of the danger to the baby. Or perhaps the nurse was reluctant to question the obstetrician's judgment and go around the obstetrician. The first possibility is a knowledge and training problem. The second is a communication and procedural failure.
Both of the cases above may represent a breakdown in procedure on how physicians should react to information relayed to them by other hospital personnel. Whatever the actual reasoning on the part of these physicians their choices resulted in medical malpractice claims. And while the actual settlement amount was not made public in either case we do know that part of the settlement for the first case included a $20 Million life care plan. It is thus clear that these cases have a substantial value given the serious and permanent nature of the harm to the baby.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney focused on complex injury cases, including birth injury medical malpractice cases. You can learn more about Placental Abruption and Medical Malpractice Cases at his website www.birth-injury-malpractice-law.com.
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