Articles Posted in Birth Injuries

by

A recent study by The Doctors Company found that misdiagnosis is the top allegation in medical malpractice lawsuits filed across the country that involve children. The researchers conducting the study said “misdiagnosis” included missed, failed or the wrong diagnosis and were largely the result of inadequate medical examinations, according to Fierce Healthcare. The study conducted by a non-profit doctors group involved reviewing over 1,200 medical malpractice lawsuits filed across the country through 2008 and 2017.

The report also illuminated several prominent trends in medical malpractice lawsuits. For example, poor communication was cited as a factor causing the child’s injury in 15 and 22 percent of the lawsuits. Systemic failures were also a common factor. Systemic failures typically meant not notifying patients of important test results, according to the online news agency.

Continue reading

by

America has one of the highest maternity mortality rates in the developed world and, sadly, that rate is only increasing each year. According to hospitals, these ever-increasing number of childbirth complications are primarily caused by demographic and financial considerations out of their control – poor access to healthcare compounded by pre-existing health problems which commonly afflict low-income mothers. A recent analysis by USA Today, however, shows a different cause and puts the primary blame on the hospitals, not the mothers.

According to the newspaper, many of the hospitals with a high rate of childbirth complications are “training hospitals” for medical students. The newspaper delves into several stories of women receiving poor care while delivering their child at the hands of these physicians-in-training. In one instance, Felicia West slipped in the bathroom and fell on her six-month pregnant belly. After being admitted to Touro hospital in New Orleans she suffered a seizure and went into respiratory arrested. The doctors performed a C-section on West’s child and, while the baby was fine, the mother’s health continued to deteriorate. The doctors misdiagnosed her with a rare blood disorder and in the following days, her blood pressure continued to increase. According to the American College of Obstetricians, a blood pressure reading over 160 is the “most important factor” of a coming stroke in pregnant women and new moms. Strokes that are not “treated expeditiously can result in maternal death.”

Continue reading