subject: An Examination Of Two Lawsuits Claiming Placental Abruption Medical Malpractice [print this page] A placental abruption is a serious complication that can arise late in pregnancy. There is no treatment for a placental abruption. It can cause serious injury to the baby or even result in a stillbirth. In certain cases it can also lead to the death of the mother. When a pregnant patient presents with symptoms that indicate the possibility of a placental abruption, doctors and nurses must either rule out the possibility of a placental abruption or take action immediately in order to protect the baby and the mother.
A placental abruption is often accompanied by heavy vaginal bleeding and by pain in the lower back and abdomen. Depending on where and how much of the placenta separates from the uterus, however, there may be no visible bleeding. Other symptoms that may indicate a placental abruption include a drop in the fetal heart rate as the unborn baby is deprived of oxygen, a change in blood pressure, and unusual contraction patterns. The following cases illustrate how doctors and nurses sometimes miss these symptoms
Case 1:
This case involved a lawsuit pursued by parents whose baby was born still. The mother had gone to see her obstetrician because of persistent vaginal bleeding. She also had both back and abdominal pain. She was 38 years old at the time. Her obstetrician sent her home without any diagnostic testing to explain her symptoms. By the following day she had to go to the hospital after experiencing massive bleeding.
While at the hospital the attending physician read the tracings from the fetal heart rate monitor as normal. Without any other testing, work up, or even ultrasound to determine the source of the bleeding, which continued along with the abdominal pain, the attending simply decided that she was not yet in labor and that it was fine to send her home. When the baby was finally delivered it became clear that the woman had suffered a placental abruption which was the cause of her bleeding and which in time took the babys life. The parents filed a lawsuit. The case went to trial and the jury awarded $1.65 million, according to the report by the law firm that handled the case.
Case 2:
This case was pursued by parents who lost their baby during childbirth. The mother was admitted to the hospital for labor and delivery. During her initial examination it was noted that she had high blood pressure. Yet, there were no further blood pressure readings after that one shortly after her admission. As labor progressed the labor and delivery nurse noted that the woman was exhibiting contraction patterns that were unusual. The nurse did not make a connection between the two signs and thus did not consider that the woman may have experienced a placental abruption. Given that a placental abruption was not considered the labor and delivery nurse did not try any resuscitative measures to save the baby. The law firm that handled this case reported that the case settled for $300,000.
Analysis:
In the first case above, the woman had the two main symptoms of placental abruption. By the time she reported to the hospital she experienced what was described as massive bleeding. The doctor, however, focused only on the fetal heart rate readings ignoring the danger that existed not only for the baby but for the mother who could go into shock or even die from the loss of blood.
In the second case, there was no visible bleeding. There was, however, a high blood pressure reading and unusual contraction patterns. It is not clear from the report of the case whether there were also any signs of fetal distress. The doctor left a labor and delivery nurse to monitor the labor and the nurse made no effort to notify the doctor of these troubling signs or to administer resuscitative measures in an attempt to save the baby.
When doctors and nurses do not take appropriate action in the presence of symptoms that suggest the presence of a placental abruption and there is resulting harm to the baby and/or the mother, they may be subject to a medical malpractice claim.
