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A placental abruption injury is a condition where the placental lining separates from the mother’s uterus. In situations where placental abruption occurs, to not place the mother or child at risk of severe injury or death, a obstetrician must immediately diagnose the condition and preform an emergency C-section. Symptoms which point to placental abruption include pain and abnormal bleeding in the mother or a drop in the heart rate of the unborn child.
In this situation, a mother was admitted to the hospital when she was in labor. Soon after she was admitted her baby went into severe fetal distress as the heart rate decreased drastically from 150 to 90. Despite the nurse’s attempts, the child’s heart rate would not increase and she paged the mother’s physician. Her physician got to the hospital roughly thirty minutes after the mother was admitted. Upon his arrival he performed an examination of the mother which made him to believe that she would need to undergo an emergency C-section, however, he did not have the credentials to perform a C-section and paged an obstetrician. approximately forty minutes after the mother arrived at the hospital this obstetrician arrived.
Approximately forty minutes after the mother was admitted the obstetrician arrived at the hospital. Following a quick examination the doctor diagnosed her with partial placental abruption and called a surgical team to do the C-Section. Nearly an hour after the mother arrived at the hospital her emergency C-section finally took place. However, the child was not delivered in time. She suffered severe brain damage and was in a permanent vegetative state which requires constant care. The mother also suffered complications related to the birth which made her undergo a hysterectomy, rendering her unable to have any other children.
At trial, the lawyer representing the family successfully argued that when the nurse paged the mother’s doctor the standard of care required him to immediately contact a surgical team to perform the C-section. If this had happened, the surgical team would have been able to perform the C-section approximately a half hour after the mother got to the hospital and the resulting injury to the baby would not have occurred. Despite her physician’s denials, the mother testified at trial that after the labor her physician told her that he should have contacted the surgical team earlier.
Following the trial, the family was successful in obtaining an award of million, with .2 million to the child, .3 million to the mother and .5 million to the father. As clear from this verdict, the jury wanted to send to obstetricians. If a obstetrician fails to act immediately when it is clear that the health of the baby is at risk and the failure to act results in injury to the physician will be substantially liable.
The jury in this matter sent a clear message: if a physician fails to take immediate action when there is evidence that the health of the child is at risk and the delay results in permanent and severe harm to the child, that physician will be held liable. Attorneys who represent families in birth injury cases first have the case carefully reviewed by medical experts and, if the case passes the expert review, prepare the case thoroughly for trial.
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