Newborn Dies FromGroup B Streptococcus Infection After Doctor Did Not Administer Antibiotics

Newborn Dies FromGroup B Streptococcus Infection After Doctor Did Not Administer Antibiotics

Group B Strep creates substantial concerns when it affects an infant.A newborn who acquires a Group B Strep infection is at significant danger of severe complications and even death. The infection could readily advance into sepsis, pneumonia or meningitis and may lead to a serious disability. Doctors recognize that a mother who is carrying the bacteria can transfer it to her infant during childbirth. Due to the risks associated with the bacteria in a newborn doctors thus normally treat expectant mothers who are either known or suspected of carrying the bacteria with antibiotics during labor.

The conditions doctors generally take into account in determining whether to use antibiotics during labor are as follow. The mother's medical history includes the detection of the GBS bacteria during a prior pregnancy. Routine screening between weeks 35 and 37 of the pregnancy showed the presence of the bacteria. Physicians also in the main agree that the antibiotics be administered in the course of labor when the expectant mother presents any of the risk factors for the presence of the bacteria. One such risk factor is the rupture of the pregnant woman's membranes more than 18 hours prior to labor. In case a doctor is aware of a known history or the presence of any of the risk factors yet does not provide antibiotics and the child subsequently acquires a group b streptococcus infection and endures substantial injury because of this, the physician might be liable for failing to meet the standard of care.

Consider the report of a lawsuit regarding a 19 year old woman who, in advance of reaching full term, was admitted to a hospital to deliver to her baby. It was known by the doctor who delivered the infant that the woman had experienced a rupture of her membranes beyond 18 hours before the start of labor. Despite having been given this significant piece of information the doctor did not administer antibiotics to guard from the potential transmission of the group b strep bacteria to the baby. Once birth her baby was depressed and needed resuscitation. The medical staff at the hospital eventually recognized that this was on account of a group b streptococcus infection. Despite efforts at treatment by the hospital staff the infant passed away 2 days after delivery because of complications from the infection. The law firm that represented the baby's mother was able to report that the case went to trial and the jury returned a verdict in amount of $457,000.

This case illustrates that a Group B Strep infection can be deadly in a baby. The need for antibiotics in instances where the expectant mother has one or more risk factors is thus normally stressed by physicians. A doctor who fails to use antibiotics in a scenario such as this might be liable for malpractice.

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