Determine The Gender Of Your Baby

Statistically, 27 out of every 1000 babies suffer a birth injury. There are many complications that can happen during the pregnancy as well as during labor and delivery. Some of these complications can threaten the health and even the life of the baby and the mother. One such complication is a placental abruption. A placental abruption is a condition in which the placenta which holds the unborn baby detaches from the mother’s uterus. When this happens the blood vessels in the area rupture. The resulting loss of blood causes a drop in the oxygen supply reaching the unborn baby. A lack of necessary levels of oxygen for an extended period of time can cause brain damage and can even result in a stillbirth

While many birth injuries are unavoidable, a number of them are the result of medical malpractice. In one reported case after was a delay in diagnosing a placental abruption and the baby was born with drain damage, a known risk of a placental abruption. The parents sued for medical malpractice and the parties reached a settlement.

A 19 year old woman pregnant with her first baby arrived at the hospital in early stage of labor. The expectant mother indicated she was having persistent abdominal pain. Following her admission the obstetrics nurse noted that she had a hard abdomen and constant uterine contractions. Within a brief time, the woman starting having vaginal bleeding. The bleeding was severe, and required continuous changing of towels to soak up the blood. The nurse did not notify a doctor of any of her observations and instead showed the woman where the linen closet was and instructed her to get towels from the closet to soak up the blood on her own.

The expectant mother then started having extreme pain after being at the hospital four to five hours. The nurse still did not notify a doctor. Instead the nurse administered pain medication. Within five minutes, the fetal heart rate monitor showed that the baby’s heart rate went flat. The nurse, however, interpreted this as simply a reaction to the pain medication.The nurse did not even attempt rule out a lack of oxygen to the baby as the reason. It took her another fifty minutes after the monitor went flat for the nurse to finally call a physician.

When a physician arrived, meconium was found and progressive deep decelerations of the baby’s heart rate were noted. The attending obstetrician then also arrived and decided to perform an emergency C-section. No anesthesiologist was available at the time and so the physician performed the C-section using only local anesthesia. The physician noted that placental abruption had occurred. Testing later confirmed that the baby had suffered from a lack of oxygen resulting in neurological damage.

The child was later diagnosed with developmental and mental retardation. Given his injuries the child requires occupational therapy, speech therapy, and physical therapy, and will permanently require life care. The child is expected to live into his 40’s. The law firm representing the parents and the child was able to successfully settle the case for ,100,000, with ,000 to the parents and the remainder to the child.

Analysis:

In this case the nurse was left to monitor the pregnant woman’s condition without a physician to supervise her. Common signs of a placental abruption in a late-term pregnancy are severe abdominal or lower back pain and persistent vaginal bleeding. The nurse failed to take any action or even let a physician know that the pregnant woman exhibited both signs In addition the nurse failed to take immediate action when the tracings from the fetal heart rate monitor going flat. The first doctor did nothing after observing the presence of meconium and the progressive deep decelerations of the baby’s heart rate - two signs that the unborn baby was in severe fetal distress. The decision to perform an emergency C-section was not made until the attending obstetrician arrived. By the time the baby was born brain damage had already occurred. The lack of responsiveness to signs of complications formed the basis of the parent’s claim of malpractice. The result: a settlement for $1.1 million.

Tags: Pregnancy //