Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
The following blog entry is written from a defendant’s position as trial approaches. Reviewing this kind of briefing should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.
It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the area, such as Kaiser Permanente, U.C. Davis Medical Center, Mercy, Sutter, or any skilled nursing facility.
(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this brain injury case and its proceedings.)
The complaint alleges that the father witnessed “thick meconium” during the labor and that he knew the meconium was impeding his son’s breathing … (Paragraph 44.) However, the complaint is silent as to how the father knew the significance or the effect of meconium at the time. It is not alleged that the father is a health care provider or has any background by which he would know that witnessing thick meconium would cause a lack of oxygen to the child’s brain. For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.
The plaintiff alleges that he witnesses his son’s heart rate decrease. (Paragraph 45.) However, as noted above, the father in the Justus case witnessed “the diminution of the fetal heart tones,” but even that did not give rise to the NIED cause of action. Id. at 584.
The plaintiff also alleges that he witnessed his son to be “lifeless and in severe distress” (paragraph 45), but that is no different that the father in Justus who aw the manipulation of the fetus with forceps and by hand, and the emergency procedures performed on his wife in connection with the attempted Cesarian section. Id. at 584.
It is no different that the plaintiff in Bird, who saw her mother being rushed down the hallway, and she was bright blue. Id. at 913. The point is that a layperson generally cannot know the cause of an injury in a medical proceeding just by watching what is occurring. (See Part 7 of 7.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.