Is It Always Medical Malpractice If The Baby Is Stillborn?
“I started feeling a serious pain in my stomach that night Mr. Boston.”
“Because of this I went and checked myself into the hospital.”
“When I got there they started running tests on me.”
“The doctor then told me that he could not locate a fetal heartbeat.”
“After more tests, the doctors came to the conclusion that there was nothing more that could be done and that I had to deliver my baby stillborn.”
The above was an unfortunate conversation I had last week with a mom who contacted my office.
Some Background On The Pregnancy…
The mother in the above had already had other children and did not have any issues during their births.
Add to this, she had completed all of her previous prenatal visits in the current pregnancy with no problems.
She was not a high risk mother, in that she was in her late 20s and did not smoke or do drugs.
In addition, she did not have any issues with severe swelling or gestational diabetes.
All in all, things looked well for her, and this late in the pregnancy, more than 30 weeks, she was coming down the end.
“I Just Want Answers Mr. Boston…”
Mom contacted us because she wanted a second opinion as to what happened.
She had already requested the pathology and other medical reports regarding her care.
Based on her research she wanted to make sure that there was nothing that was maybe overlooked with her pregnancy, which led to this bad result.
In mom’s mind nothing like this should have happened since she did not have any problems during her pregnancy.
What Our Investigation Found…
After getting all of the necessary records we immediately begin to review the facts surrounding the case.
Add to this, we interviewed mom to get a better understanding as of the complaints, if any, that she explained to her doctors.
At the conclusion of our investigation we did find out, in our opinion, as to what caused the baby’s death.
It seemed that the baby’s umbilical cord had kinked and hemorrhaged.
This caused all sorts of problems for the baby, as a healthy umbilical cord is essential to the health of a baby.
At the conclusion of our investigation we could not find anything that the doctors, or hospital did wrong.
In other words, this bad result had nothing to do with medical malpractice.
At The Conclusion Of Things…
After explaining things to mom, she had a better understanding of a Maryland medical malpractice/wrongful death claim.
She now knew that just because a baby is stillborn this does not automatically mean that a doctor, other medical professional, or hospital did something wrong.
Now, as she said, “Mr. Boston thanks for helping me get some closure to what happened.”
To Learn More…
If you have questions surrounding your child’s death during childbirth, or possible childbirth related injury, this is what I invite you to do if your matter happen in Maryland.
It costs nothing to take this next action.
Pick up the phone and give me a call.
I can be reached at 301-850-4832.
I answer Maryland childbirth injury and medical malpractice questions like yours all the time and I would be glad to listen to your story.
