subject: Jury Awards $4.4 Million For Infant's Brain Damage After Nurse Trainee Does Not Detect Fetal Distress [print this page] Physicians and nurses go through years of schooling and practice to develop the crucial knowledge and skill base to help patients. But people want a safety net should the doctors or nurse in training make an error. We further expect, though, that they will be carefully supervised and their work will be reviewed by a capable, experienced physician or nurse. Patients do not normally think about this as they simply expect that the doctor treating them is fully qualified. That safety net comes in the form of supervision by experienced doctors and nurses.
While in the training stages new physicians and nurses have to recognize what they are able to do and what they are not. The senior physicians and nurses who supervise those who are in training must also understand that those in training have not yet fully achieved the knowledge and skills necessary to act on their own. Without realizing this, the degree of supervision will not be sufficient and result in errors. And without the appropriate level of supervision these mistakes will not be caught and remedied resulting in devastating consequences.
Consider a claim that was reported which involved a near full-term expectant mother. The woman was almost at full term. The woman went to a hospital following persistent nausea and vomiting. The expectant mother was admitted to the hospital and a nurse in training assumed responsibility for her care. The nurse trainee read the results as normal, concluding that the baby was doing well and in no danger, even though they actually demonstrated signs of severe fetal distress, a condition which calls for immediate attention. The woman was sent home not knowing that her baby was suffering from a lack of oxygen..
The delivery occurred three days after the visit to the hospitalafter 3 days. This was the scheduled delivery date. She had to go through therapy. She was not able to eat on her own and consequently had to be fed with a feeding tube. For four years she had to live with seizures. And she died from complications of the cerebral palsy. She was survived by her father and mother and by her 11 and 16 year old brothers. The law firm that handled this matter on behalf of the family reported that the case went to trial and that the jury awarded the parents $4.4 million.
This case is an example of what can occur if a doctor or nurse who is still in training is allowed to treat patients on their own before having fully developing the essential skills. True, even experienced physicians and nurses can sometimes incorrectly read a fetal heart rate strip. A nurse trainee simply has not read a sufficient number of monitor strips to build the appropriate degree of competency in interpreting one. A mistake on the part of the nurse trainee and the failure to properly supervise the nurse trainee, as in the case above, may lead to a medical malpractice claim.
Jury Awards $4.4 Million For Infant's Brain Damage After Nurse Trainee Does Not Detect Fetal Distress
