Failure to Diagnose Fetal Distress
As a Delaware birth injury lawyer, I am asked to review cases to determine whether the parents have a case. A birth injury is any kind of injury that a newborn receives during the process of being born. Sometimes these injuries occur even when the mother does everything she’s supposed to do during her pregnancy. And sometimes the injury just occurs. But then there are times when a newborn infant is injured because of a medical error on the part of a doctor or a hospital. In other words, the injury was preventable.
Here are some common examples of negligence or medical malpractice resulting in birth injuries:
(1) Failing to perform a C-section when an emergency arises that calls for the immediate delivery of the baby
(2) Failing to recognize fetal distress
(3) Failing to administer Pitocin correctly (Pitocin is a drug that’s given to induce labor)
(4) Failing to properly use a forceps during delivery
When a doctor’s mistakes cause injury to your baby, you have the right to file a lawsuit and recover money. Money won’t take away the injury, but it sure can improve the quality of your child’s life.
In this article, I’d like to focus on the failure to observe signs of fetal distress and the failure to timely recognize the need for a C-section. Everyone should agree that the goal of obstetrical medicine is to deliver a baby without injury to either the mother or her baby. One of the methods used by the doctors is fetal monitoring. The tapes or strips that are printed out can be normal or abnormal, and they can show whether or not the baby is in fetal distress.
Fetal distress usually occurs when the baby is not getting enough oxygen. This causes the baby’s heart to beat abnormally, and these abnormal heartbeats are what show up on the fetal monitoring strips. If the doctor fails to take action quickly enough, the lack of oxygen can result in serious injury or death.
Fetal distress can occur for a number of reasons, but it has to be recognized quickly and dealt with. There are several ways to try to correct the baby’s breathing, but if that doesn’t work, the next option is to get the baby out.
When a doctor fails to diagnose fetal distress, or fails to take steps to correct it, or fails to deliver the baby before it suffers a horrible injury due to lack of oxygen, that’s medical malpractice.
