Parents File $2.0 Million Lawsuit After Medical Staff Misses Signs Of Fetal Distress And Baby Dies

Residents and nurses are often put in charge of monitoring an expectant mother for part, or sometimes most, of labor prior to the delivery of a baby. The expectation is that the nurses and residents who are tasked with performing this very important role have the knowledge and experience to recognize the signs of a complication during the labor process and to either take immediate action to rectify the situation or notifying a doctor with the ability to deal with the situation. Unfortunately this is not always what happens. Consider, for example, the following documented case.

This case involves a 28 year old woman expecting the birth of her first child. She was nearly at 41 weeks in the pregnancy when she experienced spontaneous labor and was transported to the hospital. Once at the hospital a fetal heart rate monitor was attached. For the next 10 1/2 hours the patterns shown on the fetal heart rate monitor appeared normal but then the patterns changed. The change was a sign that the unborn child was in fetal distress.

In approximately one hour and 40 minutes after the change in pattern the mother's membranes ruptured. As the amniotic fluid came out meconium was clearly visible. This was the second sign that the unborn child was in fetal distress.

As another fifteen minutes passed the woman's cervix became only slightly more dilated. Thirty more minutes passed and at this point the baby's heart rate changed dramatically. Yet there was no attempt made to use additional equipment for a more precise check on the baby's heart rate. The staff also failed to test the baby's scalp pH as a way to gauge the baby's condition. And the staff, which included two nurse midwives, a staff nurse, and a resident, did not call the obstetrician in charge. It took more than two additional hours for the women's cervix to be finally fully dilated. At that point she was instructed to begin pushing.

The baby was delivered almost one and a half hours after that point and throughout that length of time the fetal heart rate monitor signal would periodically be lost leading to the virtual impossibility of properly determining the baby's condition. Again, however, no steps were taken by the staff to confirm the baby's status. And the staff failed to call the obstetrician in charge until mere moments prior to the birth of the baby. At birth the baby's Apgar scores, a measure of the baby's well-being, were very low. Testing of the pH of the baby's umbilical cord showed a high level of acidity. At this point a consultation was requested from the attending emergency room pediatrician who was able to examine the baby roughly seven minutes after his birth. The baby demonstrated no reflexes and experienced seizures shortly thereafter.

Testing later revealed that he had experienced a hypoxic brain injury due to the lack of sufficient oxygen prior to birth. He was unable to hear, could not see, and could not react on his own. He died less than two years later from complications of his condition. The law firm that represented the parents filed claims on their behalf against the two nurse midwives, the staff nurse, and the resident for the failure to react to the signs of fetal distress leading to a prolonged period with a lack of necessary oxygen resulting in the baby's injuries and eventual death. The law firm reported that a settlement was reached in the case on behalf of the parents for the sum of $2.0 million.

As this case demonstrates sometimes nurses and residents do not have sufficient experience to recognize and react to serious complications that may develop during labor. When this happens the resulting injury to the baby may be catastrophic. In such cases the parents may be able to succeed with a medical malpractice claim against the responsible medical staff. An experienced birth injury attorney can assist the family in determining whether they may have a claim.

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Have You Fallen Victim To Medical Malpractice?

Have you been a victim of medical malpractice? If you have been a victim of medical malpractice and would like more information on how to proceed, this article is for you. If you feel as though you have been subjected to medical malpractice, your first step is hiring a medical attorney. A medical attorney will help you to establish your case and receive the compensation you deserve for your losses. If you would like to know more about medical malpractice, continue reading this article. Throughout the article we will discuss the two types of compensation you may be eligible to receive, as well as give you an idea of what you can expect if your case goes to trial.

As a victim of medical malpractice, I'm sure your biggest interest is how much of a settlement you are eligible to receive. Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer to this question. The amount of compensation that you receive will depend on two things; compensatory damages and punitive damages. Let's take a closer look at each of these and discuss the difference between the two.

Let us begin with compensatory damages as these are the damages that will be the main focus of your attorney. Why will they be the main focus? Compensatory damages are usually the main focus of attorneys because they are easier to prove to the judge than punitive damages. Compensatory damages include anything that you have lost financially as a result of the medical malpractice. These damages include things such as wages lost (due to inability to work) and hospital bills (to pay for medical care). Because these types of damages leave a paper trail, they are easy to prove to the judge. It is, for example, very easy to prove that you have lost wages by showing the judge pay stubs and employment records. Similarly, it is easy to prove that you have medical bills from the hospital because it can all be recorded on paper.

Once finished with compensatory damages, your lawyer will focus on punitive damages. Punitive damages are labeled as anything that reduces an individual's quality of life. Emotional, psychological, and physical traumas are all included in punitive damages. Because these things are subjective, they are more difficult to prove than compensatory damages. They are therefore more difficult to have factored into your compensation.

Although punitive damages are unlikely to be as high as compensatory damages, both will be factored into your settlement amount. The finalized amount that you receive will be determined by the judge based on your case surrounding both compensatory and punitive damages.

If you have been a victim of medical malpractice and feel as though you deserve compensation for your losses, be sure to contact an attorney immediately. A good attorney will help you through every step of your settlement battle and will work hard to prove to the judge that you deserve both compensatory and punitive rewards. Contact a medical attorney today and get the settlement you deserve!

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What The Law Says About Medical Negligence

Medical negligence or medical malpractice occurs when a medical treatment provided by health providers, including hospital, doctors and other paramedical staff, falls below the acceptable standard. Medicine is regarded as a complicated practice, and all the health service providers cannot always be perfect. When medical treatment is failed and has resulted in some injury, it does not inevitably means that there was any negligence during course of treatment. The false diagnosis of a medical practitioner or the failure to take proper medical treatment falls under medical malpractice.

Some cases of medical malpractice include misdiagnosis of a medical condition, or failure to provide right treatment for a medical situation and unreasonable delay in providing treatment to a medical situation. The laws and rules concerning medical malpractice vary in every state, significantly.

The medical negligence laws are quite technical and complex, and in order to succeed in the compensation claim, it is essential that you receive legal advice from a negligence solicitor. Cases of negligence arise when a medical service provider owns the duty of taking care of a patient while he does not do so, hence causing harm to the patient.

Medical negligence is a failure of treatment and care provided to the patient by paramedical staff that claims to have the reasonable degree of skill. If the doctor lacks proper skill or overlooks any established rules, while the patient is under medical care, the hospital can be held liable to pay compensation for the medical negligence caused by their paramedical staff.

A legal negligence claim for compensation must be settled within the time duration of three years of the incident. Legal action will not be considered if the time limit is exceeded; however, there are few exceptions to this rule.

For the medical claims of people under 18 years, the three-year time period for claiming negligence does not begin until the claimants is eighteen years old. The time period begins from the date of the discovery of injury, which may be years after the negligent act was committed.

For people having mental incapacity, there is no specific time limit to claim for the medical malpractice. Judges have the authority to override the time limit under specific circumstances. This judgment is exercised rarely if a claim is outside normal conditions; special considerations should be reported in form of an application to the judge, in order to extend the time limitations for claim. If you like to have free advice, you can contact the specialist solicitor from the law society panel of medical expertise, who will evaluate your case and discuss compensation claim under no obligation or cost.

However, the patients are required to provide details of all the physicians, who have provided you with medical services and past medical records to assist the solicitor for negligence claim. It is important that the patients discuss all of their doctors and medical conditions they had been through, even if it does not have to do anything with the case. Medical malpractice litigation is a difficult process and may take years to resolve.

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Financial Compensation for Birth Injuries

A medical professional's negligence can cause years of pain and suffering for their victims. If this irresponsibility occurs in the OB/GYN field, coping with the pain may be particularly difficult. Although receiving compensation for the injuries can never make up for these hardships, it is one way to punish the medical professional for their negligence. Reporting the doctor may also help others that may be at risk of harm from the same negligent professional.

Compensation for Injuries

Injuries that occur during birth can be life threatening and life-long. If a doctor applies too much pressure to the head during birth, they are risking brain defects that may lead to paralysis. If they fail to observe the signs of gestational diabetes, they are putting the mother at risk of a miscarriage and the child at risk of heart defects. These are just some of the mistakes OB/GYNs are making every year. They are causing only severe emotional distress on the family and loved ones, but the injuries may be taking a heavy financial toll. Therefore, compensation may be available for these victims.

In order to receive compensation for birth injuries, a personal injury lawsuit must be filed. An investigation is typically made by an attorney. They will look into whether or not the client may be eligible for compensation. If an attorney believes their client is entitled to compensation, they will file a lawsuit and come up with what they believe is a reasonable amount. The doctor's attorneys or the party responsible may choose to settle or negotiate the determined amount. If a settlement cannot be reached, the case may go to court.

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Gaining A Knowledge About HIPPA

If you own a business that involves working with the public and their private information then you may want to consider some type of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) training for your employees. HIPPA training has proven over the years to keep businesses from violating the personal security of others. This type of training will ensure that your staff feels much more confident when dealing with customer service issues. HIPPA regulations actually pertain to many different businesses. Most times the common occupations that you see completing HIPPA training are lawyers, healthcare professionals, and HR managers.

The key to HIPPA training is becoming familiar on how to handle security related issues with clients. Anytime the personal information of an individual is exposed to others you can put several people at risk. If this occurs you will put your business at risk along with your employees for a lawsuit. You do not want this situation to happen at your own workplace or business. HIPPA training will actually help your business and your employees. Not only will protect them from a potential lawsuit but you will further their education in the workplace that can be used elsewhere. Becoming familiar with HIPPA will help you protect your investments.

Facts About HIPPA Training

1. When managing any type of HIPPA training you will want to make this material available to your employees in the most convenient way possible. After all you are asking your employees to complete training that is required within their job description. Since this is the case, you will want to make this training available for them while they are at work. In order for them to complete HIPPA training while they are at work, you will need something they can access on the computer. Online HIPPA training is available online, and would be a good choice for you as an employer.

2. Providing training online for your employees is very valuable to you as a business owner. If you make sure your employees can complete this training online it will save you time and money. They will receive the same amount of training quality that they would receive in a classroom from a third party instructor. Just think about how much money this training would cost if you had to bring in a third party. If you have you employees complete the training online you employees can complete this when they have spare time at work.

3. HIPPA training online is a very simple and easy process. This process is set up to be easy and convenient for your employees. You as the manager may not have time to walk each of your employees through the entire process. With online training your employees will be viewing a power point presentation and will then be required to complete and online exam.

The good thing about online training is that a certificate can be printed immediately upon passing the exam, after the training material is viewed. This will provide you with a simple and affordable way of making sure that your employees are trained and familiar with the HIPPA guidelines.

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Surgical Error Leads To Death Of Forty Year Old Married Woman

All surgeries have risk. Doctors who perform a surgical procedure however need to be careful not to cause harm beyond the generally acceptable risks. One type of harm that can occur arises when a surgeon inadvertently perforates an organ such as the bladder. This error can be compounded if the surgeon fails to detect the perforations during the surgery and fails to recognize symptoms indicative of a complication following the surgery. When this happens and the complication is left untreated the consequences can be deadly. In such circumstances the family of the patient may be able to succeed in a medical malpractice lawsuit against doctor. For example, consider the following case.

In this case a woman underwent laparoscopic and Domino surgery which was expected to be quick and routine. As a result the doctor who performed the surgery did not have to catheterize the woman or have her void prior to the surgery. As a result of the woman's bladder was enlarged. The surgery which was performed not at a hospital but rather at a surgical center in the same building as the doctors office, quickly became more complicated. The doctor discovered a large fibroid in her uterus which she attempted to remove during the surgery. He ended up dropping the fibroid into the woman's peritoneal cavity and in his attempts to locate it again and remove it he ended up twice perforating her enlarged bladder.

The doctor did not realize that he had perforated her bladder during the surgery. Urine began to leak out of her bladder. Without having checked the doctor also did not know that the woman was suffering from a urinary tract infection. This meant that the urine leaking out was affected. The woman began to show signs of the complication even while she was in the recovery room. She experienced significant pain and was not able to avoid. The site of the surgery began to have significant amounts of drainage that included your. Again the doctor did not realize that this was happening when he checked on her and sent her home later that day.

By the following morning with worsening symptoms the woman called the doctor's office for a device of what to do. She was told that she needed to go to the ER. The doctors at the hospital performed emergency surgery and repaired the perforations to her bladder. During the surgery however it became clear that a massive infection had sent in by that point. She not only had a wound infection but it had advanced to peritonitis and sepsis.

After two months of undergoing multiple surgeries in an attempt to save her life without being able to completely remove the infection she died. She was only 40 years old. She had been married for only three years and had undergone the original surgery in an effort to evaluate the source of her inability to have children during that time. Her husband pursued a lawsuit against the doctor who performed the original surgery. The law firm that represented her husband reported that the case was mediated and ultimately settled in the amount of $1.9 million.

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