Verious problems that might manifest in a pregnancy present considerable danger of injury to the unborn child. A placental abruption comes about if the placenta detaches too early from the expectant mother's uterus. It is frequently accompanied by several symptoms - Among the symptoms to note are continual vaginal bleeding, severe abdominal or back pain, and continuous contractions. Should an expectant mother suffers a placental abruption late in the pregnancy immediate action, such as an emergency C-section, may require that be taken to safeguard the wellbeing of her unborn child. The expectant mother in this situation was only 19 years old and was pregnant with her first baby. The woman was admitted to the hospital for labor and delivery. At admission she indicated she was having continuous abdominal pain to the medical staff. The nurse who examined her documented that the woman's abdomen was hard and that she was experiencing contant uterine contrations. Not long after the young pregnant woman commenced having severe vaginal bleeding that. needed continuous changing of towels to soak up the blood. The nurse's main interest seemed to be that the woman keep from staining her bedclothes. Instead of the nurse notifying a doctor right away of this complication, the nurse showed the mother where the linen closet was in the room so that she could replace the towels herself. After about four to five hours following her admission to the hospital, the young pregnant woman began having extreme pain. Now there were two symptoms that are highly suggestive of a placental abruption.When the baby's fetal heart rate went flat a mere five minutes later, the nurse did not attempt to wake the baby in order to rule out hypoxia and again did not contact a doctor. The nurse viewed this as a reaction to the drugs she had given the mother.. She did not even attempt rule out a lack of oxygen to the baby as the reason and once again failed to notify a doctor. It took an additional fifty minutes after that for the nurse to finally contact a physician. . Once a doctor finally arrived, 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 the situation was too urgent to wait for the anesthesiologist to arrive. Given the extreme 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 physician observed signs of ensuing neurological damage to the baby later established by radiographic testing. Testing later confirmed that the baby had suffered from a lack of oxygen resulting in neurological damage. As the child developed the child was diagnosed with mental and developmental retardation. In the lawsuit that followed, the parents took the position that the failure on the part of the obstetrics nurse to recognize that the sings were the result of a placental abruption, her failure to attempt to rule out a lack of oxygen to the baby, and her postponement in notifying a doctor of the problem, led to avoidable severe damage to the baby. 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. Throughout the remainder of his life he will need occupational, speech and physical therapy and will always need custodial care. The law firm that represented the family announced that they were able to reach a settlement in the amount of $1,100,000. Of that amount, $60,000 was for the parents. The rest, in part paid as a cash payment and the rest as a structured settlement, was for the child.
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A dangerous complication that can arise in a pregnancy happens when the placenta holding the unborn baby detaches prematurely from the mother's uterus. This article considers a medical malpractice claim involving such a placental abruption. The claim involved a baby who sustained brain damage because of a lack of oxygen caused by a placental abruption.
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting medical malpractice and birth injury cases. For additional information about placental abruption and other birth injury matters including erbs palsy and group b strep matters visit the websites
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