Family Of Stillborn Baby Settles Lawsuit Against Physician
A woman who had been dealing with hypertension for a number of years reaches the decision that she and her husband want to have a baby. After learning of the pregnancy, she met with her primary care physician who referred her to an obstetrician. After after having a discussion about her hypertension with her obstetrician, he discontinues her use of the hypertension medication based on concern over the effects it might have on her child. Her obstetrician therefore chooses to control her condition through diet and is able to keep her blood pressure down for awhile. However, a short time later diet by itself was no longer able to control her hypertension and the obstetrician has her take half her normal dose from before her pregnancy.
Despite the mother taking medication for her hypertension, she begins to suffer from headaches, nausea, vomiting and blurred vision, which progressively become more frequent later on in her pregnancy.
When she goes into her doctor’s office, he notes her elevated blood pressure and prescribes her a higher dose of medication in an attempt to lower her blood pressure. Even with her best efforts in meeting with the physician to fix these issues, her symptoms get progressively worse and more frequent as her pregnancy went on. In her later visits it is noted that she has started to leak amniotic fluid, which can be extremely dangerous.
The doctor only tells her about the leakage but tells her not to be concerned about it. she does not know about the calcifications on her placenta which were caused by a lack of oxygen or that her womb is nutriently deficient, both of which can harm her child. The doctor did not tell her that her child may suffer harm from the lack of sufficient oxygen or that her child’s central nervous system could be harmed by the lack of nutrients in the womb. moreover, she does not know that other tests could have be performed on her child to determine how the baby was developing, but that her doctor decided not to do them. She was only told that she has a form of preeclampsia and that she is leaking some amniotic fluid.
At the next appointment with the doctor, the mother stated that she had headaches, that the baby had reduced movement and that she had sinus drainage in her ears. The obstetrician decided to induce her the following week due to the progression of her situation. The woman’s mother, who was at the appointment, requested that he induce labor right then and there since the child’s heartbeat appeared strong, but the physician told her the baby was better off in the womb.
The following week the woman , accompanied by her family, went to her appointment expecting to come home with her newborn baby. But, following her ultrasound she realized something was wrong. A nurse took her into a small non-examination room and had her sit down on a sofa and wait for her obstetrician. There her obstetrician told her that her baby did not have a heart beat. She was brought to a hospital and the death of the child was verified. After this she has to endure going through labor, knowing her child was dead. She and her husband held their dead baby girl and emotionally planned for her funeral. After this tragedy the parents filed a malpractice case against the doctor, asking for damages fro the loss of their child, including emotional distress. After filing the case against the physician, the law firm handling the matter documented that they were successful in reaching a settlement, obtaining $650,000 on behalf of the couple for the loss of their baby and the emotional distress they endured.