subject: $1.5 Million Malpractice Settlement For Failure To Properly Monitor High Risk Pregnancy [print this page] There are certain factors that can put a pregnancy at high risk. One such factor, high blood pressure, placed a pregnant woman at high risk for a placental abruption. This is a condition in which the placenta separates from the uterus. When this happens the blood vessels in the area are torn causing bleeding that can impair the unborn baby's oxygen supply. If appropriate and timely action, such as an emergency C-section, is not taken the baby may suffer brain damage or even die.
In this case a pregnant woman was admitted to the hospital at 35 weeks into the pregnancy for severe hypertension which was induced by the pregnancy. She was in the hospital for five days before anyone ordered that the fetal heart rate be monitored. The monitoring was ordered only after the mother's condition worsened. The monitor reportedly showed that the fetus was in distress. An agent was administered in order to induce labor.
After eight hours of monitoring with the fetal distress becoming severe a placental abruption was finally diagnosed. Even then another hour passed before the physician performed a C-section. Due to the delay the baby suffered a type of brain damage known as acute hypoxic-ischemia which is due to a loss of oxygen. The baby developed cerebral palsy and died at the age of two and a half. The law firm that handled this case on behalf of the child's family reported that it was able to achieve a settlement in the amount of $1,500,000.
There are certain factors that place a pregnant woman at high risk for a placental abruption. High blood pressure is one such factor. Here we have a woman who is admitted to the hospital with all the equipment necessary to monitor for a potential placental abruption including ultrasound machines and fetal heart rate monitors. She is admitted with severe high blood pressure which is a know risk factor for a placental abruption. Yet, none of the physicians or nurses at the hospital ordered monitoring her for signs that she might experience a placental abruption until five days into her stay.
By that point the report of the case makes it clear that her unborn baby was already experiencing fetal distress. There is no mention in the report that the woman had pain in the back or abdomen or that she had vaginal bleeding - signs consistent with a placental abruption. But not all women who suffer a placental abruption experience these signs. An ultrasound, however, can help detect a placental abruption in which the blood became trapped and so the woman did not experience vaginal bleeding. An even after the fetal distress reached an alarming stage it still took the physician another hour before performing a C-section.
In pursuing the lawsuit the law firm representing the parents no doubt would, with the help of medical experts, have pointed to the facts of the case as establishing
(1) that the mother's severe hypertension placed her at risk of a placental abruption and so required that she be closely monitored for that possibility,
(2) that there were signs that the baby was in fetal distress and that this condition was allowed to worsen significantly without appropriate action,
(3) that there was yet another delay even when the fetal distress reached a severe level of an additional hour before a C-section was performed,
(4) that these delays forced the baby to go for a prolonged period of time without a sufficient oxygen supply, and
(5) that this resulted in brain damage, the development of cerebral palsy, and the eventual death of the baby from complications due to cerebral palsy.
Even though settlements in these cases are often reached without any admission of negligence on the part of the defendants it is not surprising that this lawsuit resulted in a settlement of $1,500,000.
by: Joseph Hernandez
welcome to Insurances.net (https://www.insurances.net)
