Can Poor Coordination Between Residents And Senior Doctors Cause Your Baby A Severe Birth Injury?
Residents are often given significant responsibility for the care of patients, including expectant mothers.
The concept is that (1) the resident needs the experience and has sufficient knowledge and training to, at a minimum, recognize when a complication arises and notify a more senior doctor and (2) a senior doctor will supervise the resident and will react to concerns raised by the resident.
A failure in either can cause a serious injury to patients.
In this article we discuss two documented cases in which a resident was involved in the care of an expectant mother when a serious complication, a placental abruption, came up.
In the first case the allegations were that the expectant mother went to the hospital suffering from extreme abdominal pain as per the telephone instructions of the hospital's on-call obstetrician.
The woman was two days from reaching full-term.
Once she arrived a nurse connected her to a fetal heart rate monitor but read the output incorrectly and so reported that the tracings showed a reassuring pattern.
The woman was then prepped fro labor and delivery at which point a resident consultation was requested several times.
When the resident finally examined the woman, the resident did not request any tests to determine the reason why the woman was in such intense pain.
The resident did not even bother to read the tracings from the monitor.
So the obstetrician was still not notified of any issues while the monitor continued to show worsening signs of fetal distress.
It was nearly two hours before the obstetrician personally evaluated the situation and performed an emergency C-section.
During the C-section the obstetrician confirmed that the cause of the pain was a placental abruption.
The placental abruption caused the baby to suffer from a loss of oxygen during the delay in the baby's delivery.
This caused brain damage and cerebral palsy.
The parents filed a lawsuit on their own and on behalf of the child.
The law firm that represented the family reported that the case settled after mediation.
The amount of the settlement was not disclosed.
In the second case the allegations were that an expectant mother, at full term, went to the hospital for labor and delivery of her baby.
The woman was examined and then followed by a resident who was being supervised by a doctor concentrating in family medicine.
The resident concluded that there were signs that the woman's unborn child was suffering from fetal distress and advised the supervising doctor of this but the supervising physician dismissed the resident's concerns without as much as examining the woman or reading the output of the fetal heart rate monitor.
The resident then brought the matter to the attention of the hospital's on-call obstetrician.
Just like the supervising doctor, the on-call obstetrician did not bother to personally check the woman and took no action.
Yet, the monitor kept indicating that the unborn child was in distress.
The woman ended up suffering a placental abruption.
Even as this was happening, the resident was not able to find the supervising physician or the obstetrician.
Given the urgency of the situation, the resident went forward with an emergency C-section despite the fact that the hospital had never authorized the resident to do a C-section.
Regrettably, with the deprivation of oxygen from the placental abruption the baby had already suffered considerable brain damage.
The family retained a law firm which documented that they were able to reach a settlement on behalf of the family for a confidential amount that included a multi-million dollar Life Care Plan for the child's future needs.
Residents and senior doctors are not all the same.
In the cases analyzed above we find two residents each facing a similar complication with a pregnant patient.
One resident does everything possible to help the patient, even going to the extent of performing a C-section on his own when the more senior doctors ignored his concerns.
The other resident does nothing to establish the cause of the patient's complaints and does not even read the output of the fetal heart rate monitor thereby delaying the C-section.
The on-call obstetrician in this case relied too much on the resident and did not check on the patient earlier even though the obstetrician was the one who suggested she report to the hospital.
This obstetrician thus knew about her symptom but apparently did not insist that the resident determine what was causing it.
Both cases reveal a breakdown in the system with tragic outcomes.
The cases above also show that when something like that happens a medical malpractice attorney might be able to help obtain a recovery that protects the child's future.
The concept is that (1) the resident needs the experience and has sufficient knowledge and training to, at a minimum, recognize when a complication arises and notify a more senior doctor and (2) a senior doctor will supervise the resident and will react to concerns raised by the resident.
A failure in either can cause a serious injury to patients.
In this article we discuss two documented cases in which a resident was involved in the care of an expectant mother when a serious complication, a placental abruption, came up.
In the first case the allegations were that the expectant mother went to the hospital suffering from extreme abdominal pain as per the telephone instructions of the hospital's on-call obstetrician.
The woman was two days from reaching full-term.
Once she arrived a nurse connected her to a fetal heart rate monitor but read the output incorrectly and so reported that the tracings showed a reassuring pattern.
The woman was then prepped fro labor and delivery at which point a resident consultation was requested several times.
When the resident finally examined the woman, the resident did not request any tests to determine the reason why the woman was in such intense pain.
The resident did not even bother to read the tracings from the monitor.
So the obstetrician was still not notified of any issues while the monitor continued to show worsening signs of fetal distress.
It was nearly two hours before the obstetrician personally evaluated the situation and performed an emergency C-section.
During the C-section the obstetrician confirmed that the cause of the pain was a placental abruption.
The placental abruption caused the baby to suffer from a loss of oxygen during the delay in the baby's delivery.
This caused brain damage and cerebral palsy.
The parents filed a lawsuit on their own and on behalf of the child.
The law firm that represented the family reported that the case settled after mediation.
The amount of the settlement was not disclosed.
In the second case the allegations were that an expectant mother, at full term, went to the hospital for labor and delivery of her baby.
The woman was examined and then followed by a resident who was being supervised by a doctor concentrating in family medicine.
The resident concluded that there were signs that the woman's unborn child was suffering from fetal distress and advised the supervising doctor of this but the supervising physician dismissed the resident's concerns without as much as examining the woman or reading the output of the fetal heart rate monitor.
The resident then brought the matter to the attention of the hospital's on-call obstetrician.
Just like the supervising doctor, the on-call obstetrician did not bother to personally check the woman and took no action.
Yet, the monitor kept indicating that the unborn child was in distress.
The woman ended up suffering a placental abruption.
Even as this was happening, the resident was not able to find the supervising physician or the obstetrician.
Given the urgency of the situation, the resident went forward with an emergency C-section despite the fact that the hospital had never authorized the resident to do a C-section.
Regrettably, with the deprivation of oxygen from the placental abruption the baby had already suffered considerable brain damage.
The family retained a law firm which documented that they were able to reach a settlement on behalf of the family for a confidential amount that included a multi-million dollar Life Care Plan for the child's future needs.
Residents and senior doctors are not all the same.
In the cases analyzed above we find two residents each facing a similar complication with a pregnant patient.
One resident does everything possible to help the patient, even going to the extent of performing a C-section on his own when the more senior doctors ignored his concerns.
The other resident does nothing to establish the cause of the patient's complaints and does not even read the output of the fetal heart rate monitor thereby delaying the C-section.
The on-call obstetrician in this case relied too much on the resident and did not check on the patient earlier even though the obstetrician was the one who suggested she report to the hospital.
This obstetrician thus knew about her symptom but apparently did not insist that the resident determine what was causing it.
Both cases reveal a breakdown in the system with tragic outcomes.
The cases above also show that when something like that happens a medical malpractice attorney might be able to help obtain a recovery that protects the child's future.