Pregnant Woman Exhibits Indications Of Placental Abruption Yet Doctor Overlooks Them

Pregnant Woman Exhibits Indications Of Placental Abruption Yet Doctor Overlooks Them

By:


Generally, there are 2 things people count on from their doctors. This is most likely never more true than at those times the patient is an expectant mother who is entrusting the physician with caring for her unborn child. First, the physician should listen to the patients own intuition. If the doctor dismisses her intuition that something is not right and does nothing to determine whether in fact there is something not right the outcome may be devestating

Further, the doctor ought to know and react to symptoms suggestive of a major problem. This is what their education, training and experience is supposed to give them the ability to do. It is a normal parental instinct to wish, to trust, that nothing bad happens to thier baby and the baby is born healthy. It may feel like a horrible betrayal of the have faith in they put in the physician that he or she has the training and experience to tell the difference between a normally progressing pregnancy particularly if it is a complication that threatens the life of the unborn child.

Then there is the reality of just how badly things can go wrong. Consider a situation in which a woman in the seventh month of her pregnancy, was admitted at the hospital by her physician with complaints of back pain, abdominal pain, and persistent vaginal bleeding. The physician determined that the woman was not in labor and that the tracings from the fetal heart rate monitor were reassuring and showed no signs of fetal distress. The doctor discharged the woman even thought she continued to complain of abdominal pain and continued to experience vaginal bleeding.

Later that same afternoon, after the abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding increased, this woman saw her physician. On examinig the expectant mother, the physician had her transported to the hospital for delivery of her child. She had significant hemorrhaging on the way to the hospital. When she arrived at the hospital the medical staff immediately prepared her for an emergency C-section but the child was stillborn before they could. The mother required transfusions for blood loss. The reason for the pain and vaginal bleeding was determined to be a placental abruption. The law firm that handled this matter documented that it went to trial and was able to obtain a jury verdict for $1.65 million on behalf of the parents.

Certainly, an abnormal heart rate would have been an indication that she was experiencing a serious complication requiring appropriate action without delay. But so was the fact that she hd constant pain and bleeding. And they were altogether dismissed - essentially, the physician likewise disregarded the patients intuition.

The physician additionally evidently never actually considered a placental abruption in the differential diagnosis for the pain even though collectively they form a classic presentation of a placental abruption. This is not how doctors would generally say is the appropriate way to assess a patients situation. It was not until the situation worsened later in the day that the physician had her go to the hospital for an emergency C-section.

Situations like this arise in hospitals and doctors offices all too regularly. If the health of an unborn baby is concerned the outcomes of such digressions from what the patient expects of the physician may bring about the death of the child. Moreover the doctor's actions might be more than merely a departure from the patients expectations, they might additionally be a departure from the standard of care the physician is supposed to provide. If that is the case the family may have a medical malpractice/wrongful death case against the doctor.

About the Author:
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting birth injury medical malpractice cases. You can learn more about fetal distress and other types of birth injuries such as group b strep matters by visiting the website



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


Tags: ,

|

Loading...
Related....
Videos...

Recent Legal Articles

Comments

Still can't find what you are looking for? Search for it!

Loading

Site Navigation:

Copyright 2005-2011 ArticleSnatch, LLC - All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service.