Baby Left With Brain Damage Because Placental Abruption Was Not Detected By Nurse

A placental abruption is a complication in which the placenta that retains the baby detaches from the mother's uterus. This is a dangerous complication which can put the unborn child at risk of serious damage and death unless immediate action is taken. It is frequently associated with certain symptoms - the most telling of which are continual vaginal bleeding, extreme abdominal or back pain, and continuous contractions. By not realizing that woman has endured a placental abruption but not jeopardizing the health of the baby carrying out an emergency C-section could lead to the severe damage or even the death of the unborn child.

As an example, look at what happened in a reported lawsuit involving a young expectant mother. She was a 19 year old pregnant with her first child and was admitted to the hospital presenting with continuous abdominal pain. Following an examination, the obstetrical nurse observed that the mother had constant uterine contractions and a hard abdomen.

A brief time later, the mother started experiencing vaginal bleeding, so heavy that it required constant changing of towels underneath her. Instead of notifying a hospital obstetrician the obstetrics nurse actually instructed the mother get more towels from the linen closet in the room and continue replacing them herself.

In addition to the bleeding and contraction pattern (which are known symptoms of a placental abruption) the young pregnant woman started having extreme pain (a known symptom of a placental abruption) after being at the hospital for approximately four to five hours. Again, the obstetrics nurse failed to notify a doctor. Rather the nurse administered pain medication. Five minutes later, the baby's fetal heart monitor was flat. Yet, the nurse still did not notify a doctor. The nurse concluded this was merely due to a response to the mother being administered the pain medication. The nurse thus not only failed to notify a physician, the nurse did not make any attempt to awaken the baby in order to make sure hypoxia was not involved. The nurse finally contacted a doctor some fifty minutes after the baby's heart rate went flat.

Once a physician did arrive, meconium was found and progressive deep decelerations of the baby's heart rate were noted. The attending obstetrician then arrived and performed an emergency C-section with only local anesthesia as there was not time to wait for the anesthesiologist to arrive. With the urgent need for speed at this point and given that no anesthesiologist was available the attending performed the emergency C-section using only local anesthesia.

As the doctor was delivering the baby via C-section the physician found that there had been a placental abruption that had cut off the supply of oxygen to the unborn baby. The baby exhibited signs of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy - (damage caused to the central nervous system due to a lack of oxygen) which testing later confirmed. Testing later established that the newborn had suffered from a lack of oxygen resulting in neurological damage. As the child developed the child was diagnosed with mental and developmental retardation.

The child's parents filed a medical malpractice claim on behalf of her child and herself alleging that due to the nurse's failure to recognize the clear signs of placental abruption and failure to notify a doctor that the baby's fetal heart monitor had gone flat for 50 minutes, an otherwise healthy baby sustained a brain injury. In an attempt to lessen the amount of the settlement, the defense argued that the child was only expected to live to be approximately 10 years old and would not benefit from the therapy so the cost of the therapy should not be part of the settlement. The child needs occupations therapy, speech therapy, and physical therapy. The law firm representing the parents and the child, however, achieved a settlement on the case for $1,100,000, with $60,000 being given to the parents and the remainder to the child.