PHYSICIAN’S DEFENSE The patient was monitored properly. An embolism is a sudden event.
VERDICT $867,273 Tennessee verdict. The physician group was found 70% at fault and the hospital 30% at fault.
Despite US results, birth delayed to 41 weeks
ULTRASONOGRAPHY SHOWED a shortened cervix, a subchorionic hematoma, and a choroid plexus cyst in the fetal brain during a patient’s prenatal care. The ObGyns induced labor at 41 weeks’ gestation and then performed emergent cesarean delivery. The child suffered birth asphyxia, thrombocytopenia, hypocalcemia, and cerebral palsy.
PATIENT’S CLAIM The ObGyns should have induced labor and/or performed cesarean delivery before 39 weeks’ gestation, but they failed to recognize the significance of the mother’s condition.
PHYSICIANS’ DEFENSE Not reported.
VERDICT $1.1 million Michigan settlement.
Sponge emerges 7 months after cesarean delivery
A LAPAROTOMY SPONGE was unknowingly left in the abdomen of a 29-year-old woman who underwent cesarean delivery. Seven months later, she was examined for a stitch abscess. Thinking he was removing a retained stitch, the surgeon pulled out a 12-inch sponge. She was awake at the time and experienced severe pain. The next day, she underwent laparotomy and drains were placed. She remained hospitalized for several days and drainage continued for another 6 days. The patient suffered no permanent injury; incisions for both operations were made at the same site, and she later gave birth without complication.
PATIENT’S CLAIM Leaving a sponge inside her was negligent.
PHYSICIAN’S DEFENSE The nurses who assisted in the surgery were responsible for the retained sponge.
VERDICT $110,410 Illinois verdict against the surgeon. Confidential settlement with the hospital prior to trial.
Would an earlier birth have saved this stillborn child?
WHEN 32 WEEKS’ PREGNANT, a 16-year-old patient repeatedly told her ObGyn she was experiencing bleeding. Later, she reported decreased fetal movement, but a sonogram indicated nothing abnormal. Twenty-three days later, her infant was delivered stillborn.
PATIENT’S CLAIM Placental abruption, which occurred 24 to 96 hours before delivery, caused the stillbirth. Because of her risk factors—bleeding, age, smoking, decreased fetal movement—labor should have been induced or a cesarean delivery performed earlier.
PHYSICIAN’S DEFENSE Ultrasonography did not indicate placental abruption, so delivery at that time was not warranted. An umbilical cord accident—which was unforeseeable and unpreventable—caused the stillbirth.
VERDICT Kentucky defense verdict.
Mother claims she wasn’t told test results for Down syndrome
A TRIPLE SCREEN BLOOD TEST ordered for a patient under prenatal care indicated that she had a 1:37 chance of giving birth to a child with Down syndrome. Six months later, her infant was born with Down syndrome.
PATIENT’S CLAIM The obstetrician failed to inform her that the triple screen test indicated a risk of having a child with Down syndrome. If she had known, she would have undergone an abortion.
PHYSICIAN’S DEFENSE The patient was informed three times of the test results. She was advised to undergo amniocentesis to obtain a definitive diagnosis, but she refused.
VERDICT Maryland defense verdict.