Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a birth injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.
(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this birth injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)
Specific Liability: Nursing staff failed to recognize the history and signs of placental abruption in a patient in labor and failed to take the necessary action to address the complication
General Injury: Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and other perinatal and neonatal injuries, resulting in cerebral palsy, seizures, spastic quadriplegia, and dysfunction of multiple organs; impairment of the parent-child relationship; emotional distress; medical and care expenses; impaired earning ability
Summary of Facts:
According to the plaintiff:
Sarah Travis, who had a history of Caesarian section and placental abruption, was a candidate for a vaginal birth at Sacramento Hospital in Sacramento, CA. Sacramento Hospital had medical documentation indicating Travis had a high risk of placental abruption.
Travis called the hospital around 7:30 pm May 30, 2002, with complaints of increased cramping and contractions. The hospital’s charge nurse told her to come in for labor evaluation, but the nurses did not read her chart, know her medical history, or know her pregnancy risks.
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.
When Travis arrived at the hospital, she was assigned to a nurse with one year of experience. The nurse had just reported to management in her annual performance review that she was most bothered by her own insecurity over her inexperience with labor. Around the same time, Sacramento Hospital’s night shift charge nurse told management that she was bothered by unsafe staffing and management instability in the labor and delivery unit.
The new nurse assigned to Travis did not recognize that her clinical symptoms and the fetal heart monitor showed warning signs that Travis was starting to have a repeat abruption. The attending obstetrician was in the labor and delivery unit when Travis called in and when Travis arrived at the hospital, but the nurses did not notify or consult with the obstetrician.
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.