Family Recovers $3,875,000 From Medical Malpractice Lawsuit For Their Child's Brian Damage

A mother who is a carrier of the group b streptococcus may pass on the bacteria to her baby during labor even if the mother is asymptomatic

. Research demonstrate that between fifteen to forty percent of expecting mothers are carriers of Group b strep. If there is no intervention, an infant born to a woman who is a carrier of the bacteria has a one in two-hundred chance of developing the infection. By administering antibiotics when she enters labor labor the chance that she will pass the bacteria to her infant is lowered by 2,000%.

To help decide which expecting mothers should be administered antibiotics while in labor, asymptomatic pregnant women are tested for the presence of the bacteria approximately from the 35th and 37th week of the pregnancy. Getting tested for GBS is a straightforward process. Because the bacteria typically takes hold inside the urinary and vaginal tract of the woman, a swab is used to get a sample. The results of the screen are normally obtainable in 48 hours.

In case a baby acquires a Group B Strep infection but is not treated in a timely basis, the infection could develop into pneumonia, sepsis or meningitis. Given that an infant's immune systems is not totally developed, the baby may be left with lifelong physical and neurological injuries that may prevent the child from ever living a normal life. And of the approximately seven thousand six hundred newborns who are estimated to be infected this year with group b streptococcus ten to fifteen percent do not survive.

With the considerable threat a group b streptococcus infection presents for newborns, physicians examining a baby who has signs consistent with the infection and whose mother tested positive during the pregnancy need to incorporate it in their differential diagnosis. See, for instance, a reported lawsuit in which a child, born to a woman who had a known history of being a GBS carrier during the pregnancy, began to exhibit signs consistent with the infection shortly after birth. But, the treating physician did not match the symptoms in the baby's postnatal record with the prenatal chart which indicated that mother had tested positive for the bacteria during the pregnancy. As a result, the correct diagnosis was was untimely and antibiotics were not used in a timely manner.

Given the time that passed before antibiotics were administered, the infant suffered brain damage. The law firm that represented the family announced that they were able to reach a settlement on behalf of the family for $750,000 with the doctor and $3,125,000 with the hospital.

Infants can acquire a GBS infection even tough antibiotics were administered to the mother in the course of labor. Research conducted recently also showed that a certain number of babies who manifest the infection even if the mother screened negative. Physicians thus ought to consider it as part of their differential diagnosis whenever a baby exhibits signs consistent with group b streptococcus . As this matter shows The failure to check the prenatal chart and to consider Group B Strep may constitute liability for medical malpractice.

by: Joseph Hernandez

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