Family Reaches $3.875 Million Settlement In Medical Malpractice Case For Their Infant's Brian Injury

A pregnant woman who is a carrier of the group b streptococcus can transmit the bacteria

to her child during labor even if the mother does not present any symptoms. Research demonstrate that between roughly 25% of expecting mothers are carriers of Group b strep. Without treatment, a baby born to a woman who is a carrier of the bacteria has a one in two-hundred chance of developing a Group B Strep infection. By giving the mother antibiotics during labor the likelihood of the mother passing the group b streptococcusGBS bacteria to her newborn is lowered by 2,000%.

To be able to figure out which expecting mothers should be administered antibiotics while in labor, expecting mothers without any symptoms are screened for Group B Strep approximately from the 35th and 37th week of the pregnancy. Getting tested for group b strep is a simple process. Since the bacteria ordinarily takes hold inside the urinary and vaginal tract of the pregnant woman, a swab is used to acquire a sample. The outcome of the test are normally available within 48 hours.

In the event that an infant acquires a Group B Strep infection and is not treated immediately, the infection might develop into pneumonia, sepsis or meningitis. Given that an infant's immune systems is not wholly developed, the baby might be left with lifelong physical and neurological damage that may prevent the child from ever living a normal life. And of the approximately 7,600 babies who are estimated to be infected this year with GBS ten to fifteen percent do not survive.

With the serious danger a GBS infection poses for newborns, doctors examining a baby who has symptoms consistent with a GBS infection and whose mother tested positive during the pregnancy should include it in their differential diagnosis. See, for example, a sent to claim in which an infant, born to a woman who had a known history of being a GBS carrier during the pregnancy, started to display symptoms consistent with a Group B Strep infection shortly after birth. Yet, the treating physician failed to match the symptoms in the child's postnatal record with the prenatal record which showed that the GBS bacteria had been detected in the mother during the pregnancy. Thus, the proper diagnosis was came late and antibiotics were not used immediately.

Due to the time that passed before antibiotics were administered, the newborn sustained a brain injury. The law firm that handled this case described that they achieved a settlement for the family for $750,000 with the physician and $3,125,000 with the hospital.

Babies can acquire a Group B Strep infection even tough antibiotics were given to the mother while in labor. Research conducted recently also showed that there are a number of infants who develop the infection even if the mother screened negative. Doctors thus should consider it as part of their differential diagnosis whenever a baby shows signs consistent with Group B Strep . As this claim illustrates Not reading the prenatal records or considering Group B Strep might constitute liability for medical malpractice.

by: Joseph Hernandez

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