Parents Initiate Claim Against Obstetrician And Nurse After Their Baby Passed Away When Of Fetal Distress

Several complications can arise during a pregnancy. A complication that is particularly problematic and calls for quick action is fetal distress. Thus, when fetal distress is spotted action ought to be taken without delay to prevent harm to the child. This article examines a reported lawsuit where the delay lasted roughly 2 hours.

In this case an expectant mother who had fallen was being admitted to a hospital to check that there was no injury to her unbo
baby. An ultrasound was performed and revealed no injury to the baby. The woman was still conce
ed that something was not right and requested further monitoring. As the hospital was not equipped with a fetal heart rate monitor she was going to be transferred to a second hospital. Her obstetrician was informed that she was being transferred and the doctor agreed to go to the second hospital.

Once at the second hospital a fetal heart rate monitor was connected to the expectant mother. The nurse at this hospital interpreted the strip as non-reassuring and revealing that the unbo
child was experiencing fetal distress. Given that the woman's physician had indicated he would see his patient there, the nurse considered that the right course of action would be to hold out for the doctor to get there, even while she saw that the fetal distress was worsening.

Over the next 2 hours the nurse continued postponing notifying a different physician that the unbo
child was in fetal distress. She did nothing until the monitor indicated that the baby’s heart rate had had dropped to a critically low level. It was only then that the labor and delivery nurse informed another doctor at the hospital of the circumstances. The moment he was informed of the situation this doctor did not hesitate to do an emergency C-section. While performing the C-section the doctor found out that the baby had been deprived of oxygen (which explained the fall in the heart rate) as a result of a placental abruption.The patient’s doctor had gone home instead of to the hospital as he had indicated he would - basically abandoning the woman and her baby and making him a defendant in the lawsuit. Since fetal distress calls for urgent measures the nurse became the second defendant in the medical malpractice claim by the mother and father on account of her choice to hold off for the expectant mother doctor to appear rather than alerting the in-house doctor until 2 hours later.

At birth the infant was non-responsive. Even though the medical staff attempted resuscitative measures they were not able to revive the baby. Here the law firm that represented the family reported that the case settled for $750,000. As this claim displays, a doctor who agrees to follow up on the care of the patient and fails to might be liable for malpractice. Likewise nurse who fails to tell a physician or take other appropriate measures right away upon noting signs of a significant problem in the pregnancy might also be liable.