Woman Pursues Case Against Paramedics For Taking Too Long To Get Her To Hospital

Paramedics are often first responders to medical emergencies

. Paramedics are licensed health care providers who owe a duty to meet the standard of care to those they respond to and treat. As the first to respond we count on paramedics to have the knowledge, training, and experience to discern between problems that can be treated at the scene from those that need urgent transport to a hospital with the appropriate equipment and full medical staff. This article examines a claim regarding a woman who called in from her house with complications from her pregnancy. The paramedics did not appreciate the symptoms exhibited by the pregnant woman, including the fact that she was in shock from blood loss, and failed to transport her without delay to a hospital. During the delay the baby's oxygen supply was cut off due to the placental abruption.

Their failure to take immediate action caused a delay of at least 18 minutes. In the eighteen minute period the expecting mother's unborn child suffered from hypoxia as a result of the blood loss from the placental abruption.. The infant past away one day after being born. The mother needed further surgery for the excessive bleeding . The bleeding was so major that she temporarily lost kidney function. The law firm that handled this matter sued the paramedics for their failure to recognize the woman's condition and their delay in taking her to the hospital.

Every State has its own unique laws regarding medical malpractice and wrongful death claims. A number of States have laws that permit only the mother to pursue a lawsuit for the death of newborn because of malpractice. The State where this claim arose, for example, required that in order for a mother to recover for the emotional damage she experienced from the death of her child she first needs to establish that she experienced a physical injury that was due to the same negligence that caused the demise of the baby and that the mother's physical injury would not have ordinarily happened in a normal childbirth. 6 months after the loss of her child, commenced struggling with devastating depression which, even though she follwed a routine of therapy and medication, continued through the time of the law firm's report and will require the lifelong need for medication. The mother met those requirements.|All 3 requisites were met in this case.|Given the injuries the mother herself sustained from the delay by the paramedics, she was able to go forward with a lawsuit.

The law firm that handled the case on her behalf reported that they took the case to trial and achieved a verdict of $4.5 million. As this case illustrates, health care providers like paramedics are held accountable for providing care that meets the applicable standard of care. When they do not meet the standard of care they might be liable for malpractice.

by: Joseph Hernandez

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