Doctor Stays Home While Hospitalized Pregnant Patient Has A Placental Abruption
Many problems can arise during a pregnancy. One such problem that is extremely serious and requires prompt action is fetal distress. One way fetal distress can happen is if the unborn baby is not getting a sufficient amount of oxygen. A way to tell whether the baby is in fetal distress is by monitoring the unborn baby's heart rate. Under certain circumstances, such as when the heart rate drops below a certain range, immediate action is required, such as an emergency C-section. This article analyzes a malpractice case that alleged a two hour delay.
In this case a pregnant woman who had fallen was admitted to a hospital to make sure that there had been no trauma to her unborn baby. An ultrasound was performed and showed no injury to the baby. The woman was still concerned that something was wrong and requested further monitoring. Since the hospital was not equipped with a fetal heart rate monitor she was transported to a second hospital, her obstetrician was notified that she was being transported and the obstetrician agreed to meet her at the second hospital.
After her arrival at the second hospital a fetal heart rate monitor was connected to the woman. The labor and delivery nurse at this hospital read the strip as non-reassuring and indicating that the unborn baby was in fetal distress. The second hospital and the nurse had been informed that the woman's obstetrician had agreed to go to that hospital to handle the care of the patient and her unborn baby. Even though clearly having noted that the baby was in fetal distress, the nurse nonetheless concluded that she should wait for the obstetrician to handle the situation rather than take any steps on her own or even notify an on-call obstetrician.
The nurse waited for two hours for the obstetrician to come to the hospital to care for the patient. The nurse acted only when the monitor showed that the baby's heart rate had precipitously dropped to dangerously low levels. At that point the labor and delivery nurse finally notified an obstetrician at the hospital of the situation. This obstetrician immediately performed an emergency C-section. The procedure revealed that the fetal distress had been caused by a placental abruption which had cut off the baby's oxygen supply.
It turned out that the patient's obstetrician had gone home instead of going to the hospital as he had indicated he would - essentially abandoning his patient and her baby and making him a defendant in the lawsuit. Since fetal distress requires immediate action the labor and delivery nurse at the second hospital became the second defendant in the lawsuit by the parents due to her decision to wait for the patient's obstetrician to arrive instead of notifying the in-house obstetrician until two hours later.
At birth, the baby was not breathing. His Apgar scores were 0 and 0. The medical staff was unable to revive the baby. The law firm was able to report that they achieved a settlement totaling $750,000 on behalf of the baby's parents. As this case illustrates, physicians have a duty to follow up on the care of the patient and nurses have a duty to make sure that a physician is notified immediately upon detection of signs of fetal distress.
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