Stillbirths From An Undiagnosed Abruption Trigger Two Lawsuits

Among the greatest tragedies that can be experienced by a parent is the stillbirth a child. Although most childbirths under the care of doctors and nurses take place without incident there are times when they miss indications of a complication that can lead to the death of the child. When this happens the parents are sometimes able to pursue a legal claim against the doctors and nurses responsible.

The allegations in the first case are as follow. A pregnant woman reported to the hospital following a fall. She was almost full-term at the time. To rule out injury to the baby, the doctor ordered an ultrasound, which was negative. The hospital did not have the equipment necessary for fetal heart rate monitoring and so had her transferred to another hospital. Once the monitor was connected the tracings showed that the baby was in distress. After 2 hours, her obstetrician, who had been notified and had agreed to meet her at the hospital, was still out. A different obstetrician who was present in the hospital was consulted when the baby’s heart rate reached a critically dangerous level. This obstetrician immediately performed a C-section. During the procedure, the obstetrician found that she had a placental abruption, which had cut off oxygen to the baby. The baby suffered from asphyxia. Apgar scores were 0. Resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful and the baby could not be revived. The law firm that litigated the lawsuit reported the case was settled in the amount of $500,000.

Now consider the allegations from the following case: A woman expecting her firstborn was admitted to the hospital for childbirth. As part of her workup it was noted that her blood pressure was high. The nurse who is doing the workup however did not do any more testing at the time will report the finding to a doctor. The nurse did not as much as take a second blood pressure reading. Sometime after that the expectant mother started having contraction patterns that were not normal. Still the nurse did nothing. In fact, the mother had a uterine abruption. The nurse had an opportunity to take any of several measures to protect the baby's health including administering oxygen, upping the rate of the IV, or attempting intra-uterine resuscitative measures but did none of these. As a result of the nurse’s inaction the baby suffered from hypoxia (a form of oxygen deprivation) which led to the baby’s stillbirth. The law firm that represented the family the lawsuit reported the lawsuit was settled in the amount of $300,000.

As the two situations above demonstrate, the failure to diagnose that symptoms suggest the risk of a problem that can put the wellbeing of an unborn baby in danger and react immediately can end inthe death of the baby. The key to the resulting cases was the existence of indications which, in the event the attending medical staff had adhered to the normally accepted standard of care, would have been dealt with without delay, saving the lives of the babies. Sadly, the kind of medical errors alleged in the 2 matters discussed above keep occurring. How many stillbirths might be avoided if the doctors and nurses involved would establish and comply with firm standards for how to deal withcomplications in a pregnancy?

You can learn more about placental abruption and other types of birth injuries including group b streptococcus matters by visiting the websites