Various serious complications can develop when a pregnant woman reaches full term and is about to give birth. One such complication happens when the part of the placenta which holds the unborn baby prematurely separates from the mother's uterus. This causes tearing of the blood vessels in the area of the separation often, but not always, causing back or abdominal pain and heavy or persistent vaginal bleeding. Even when these signs are not present another sign that the mother may have experienced a placental abruption is a change in the fetal heart rate to such a degree that the baby is said to be in fetal distress. The change in the baby's heart rate is due to the lack of oxygen supply resulting from the abruption.
It is critical to the health of the baby (and of the mother in extreme cases) that doctors and nurses are expected to be able to recognize that a placental abruption has occurred and to take timely and appropriate action. Below we examine two cases involving harm to a baby when a doctor or nurse did not take immediate action following after a placental abruption.
This case involved a lawsuit pursued by parents whose baby was born still. The mother had gone to see her obstetrician because of persistent vaginal bleeding. She also had both back and abdominal pain. She was 38 years old at the time. Her obstetrician sent her home without any diagnostic testing to explain her symptoms. By the following day she had to go to the hospital after experiencing massive bleeding. While at the hospital she was connected to a fetal heart rate monitor which the hospital physician read as normal. Again, a physician decided that it was not necessary to conduct a full workup to determine the cause of the bleeding.
Without as much as ordering an ultrasound, the hospital physician reached the conclusion that the woman was not in labor yet and sent her home even though she was still complaining that she was continuing to bleed and still had abdominal pain. During delivery it was determined that the cause of the bleeding and pain had been a placental abruption. The law firm that handled this case reported that they took the case to trial where a jury returned a verdict of $1.65 million to the mother.
This case was pursued by parents who lost their baby during childbirth. The mother was admitted to the hospital for labor and delivery. During her initial examination it was noted that she had high blood pressure. Yet, there were no further blood pressure readings after that one shortly after her admission.
As labor progressed the labor and delivery nurse noted that the woman was exhibiting contraction patterns that were unusual. The nurse did not make a connection between the two signs and thus did not consider that the woman may have experienced a placental abruption. Given that a placental abruption was not considered the labor and delivery nurse did not try any resuscitative measures to save the baby. The law firm that handled this case reported that the case settled for $300,000.
The woman in the first case exhibited the two classic symptoms of a placental abruption. Yet, not only did her obstetrician and later the hospital physician failed to consider it as a possibility but both failed to order a work up to identify the cause of these symptoms. They simply did not consider the symptoms sufficiently significant. The woman in the second had a different presentation. She did not have the classic symptoms of a placental abruption but there were other signs that a complication had developed.
High blood pressure at this stage of the pregnancy, however, should raise suspicion that something may be wrong and trigger the close monitoring of the woman's blood pressure throughout the remainder of her labor. Taken in combination with the high blood pressure the unusual contraction patterns should also have raised concern. Yet, the nurse took no action and did not notify a physician of these signs.
When doctors and nurses fail to recognize that abnormal developments in a pregnancy may be the result of a serious complication and so not diagnosing that a placental abruption has occurred, do not performing an emergency C-section (or in the case of nurses not notifying a doctor), and that baby is born still as a result, those doctors and nurses may be liable for malpractice.
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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