subject: Missed Signs Of Fetal Distress Results In Child's Brain Injury And $4,400,000 Lawsuit [print this page] Nurses need years of schooling and practice to build the knowledge and skill base necessary to help patients. This means they also have to practice on real patients. But patients want a safety net in the form of proper supervision by a competent, experienced doctor or nurse. And while they are in training new nurses and their supervisors have to recognize the limits of what the new nurse is capable of doing on their own. Else, the nurse in training will be mistakes are not caught and remedied, resulting in devastating outcomes.
Recently a claim was reported that described how a pregnant woman went to the hospital. She was admitted with complaints of nausea and vomiting. On admission a nurse trainee examined the woman and followed her condition. It was the nurse trainee, rather than a registered nurse or a physician who interpreted the strip from the fetal heart rate monitor. The nurse trainee interpreted the strip as normal and decided that there was no danger to the unborn baby. The nurse trainee then decided that the woman could be discharged. The nurse trainee made these decisions alone, without any supervision. In reality, the baby's oxygen supply was severely obstructed and that the baby's health was in grave risk..
Born three days later the child needed therapy, could not eat on her own and needed to be fed with a feeding tube, and had to endure seizures for 4 years before passing away from complications of the cerebral palsy. She was survived by her father and mother and by her 11 and 16 year old brothers. The law firm that handled this matter on behalf of the family reported that the case went to trial and that the jury awarded the parents $4.4 million.
This matter shows what can occur if a physician or nurse who is still in training is allowed to treat patients on their own before having totally developing the required skills. A nurse trainee is much more likely to make a mistake that can cause a significant injury to a patient. But while an experienced labor and delivery nurse has interpreted hundreds or thousands of these strips a nurse trainee has only read a few and is much more likely to make an error. And when an error by a nurse trainee is not caught by a supervising doctor or nurse the outcome, as in the situation reviewed above, can have tragic consequences and might end in a malpractice lawsuit.
by: Joseph Hernandez
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