Fetal Monitoring Negligence

Fetal monitoring negligence can result in complications during pregnancy or delivery that can lead to a traumatic birth, birth injuries, or even death. Physicians and staff are responsible for remaining alert and taking swift action if the baby or mother is in distress, and failure to do so can give you grounds for legal action. Birth injury attorneys from Lopez McHugh can provide valuable representation in these situations.

What is Fetal Monitoring Negligence

Fetal monitoring negligence occurs when physicians fail to monitor the baby’s heart rate and overall health during pregnancy or childbirth. This can result in serious health complications for both the mother and the baby. A lack of oxygen to the baby is a common result of monitoring negligence that can cause serious birth injuries that can affect the baby’s brain, heart, and muscles.

Common Examples of Fetal Monitoring Negligence

Fetal monitoring negligence can play out in a few different ways and have a profound effect on pregnancy and delivery. Below is a closer look at some common examples of fetal monitoring negligence.

Misinterpreting Data

A common issue in these types of cases can occur when doctors, delivery nurses, and other staff misinterpret the data from electronic fetal monitoring devices. This technology records the baby’s heart rate, oxygen levels, and contraction activity. If your medical team interprets this information incorrectly, or reads it from the wrong direction, it can completely alter the perceived condition of the baby.

Delays in Taking Action

If a fetus is in distress, medical professionals are expected to respond quickly to counteract the issue or perform an emergency C-section, as applicable. When complications arise, every minute matters, and delays caused by negligence or reckless care dangerously affect a baby’s vitals and cause injury.

Ignoring Alarms

Physicians and nurses who ignore alarms from monitors can endanger the health and life of the baby. Whether staff willfully ignore alarms or become careless and fail to stay alert, these monitoring errors can delay action and lead to avoidable complications. Ignoring critical alarms could also affect your options during delivery.

Incorrect Use of Monitoring Equipment

Incorrect use of monitoring equipment is another example of fetal monitoring negligence. If hospital staff do not use monitoring devices as intended or they lack the skill and understanding of how to operate them, then the baby can sustain injuries or death. It can also affect the level of understanding that healthcare providers have in these situations and how they respond.

Miscommunication

According to The HIPAA Journal, the effect of poor communication in healthcare is a common problem that can affect thousands of individuals. These issues are particularly common during shift changes where vital information may not be accurately communicated or understood. Given the length of labor and delivery, there is a real possibility of such errors occurring. Poor communication is a serious problem and can have a profound impact on delivery and fetal monitoring.

Evidence Needed to Demonstrate Fetal Monitoring Negligence

To demonstrate that fetal monitoring negligence occurred and caused injury, you must provide detailed and thorough evidence to back up your claim. Some key forms of evidence you can use in your case include:

• Medical records documenting fetal monitor readings, administration of medication, and any other applicable actions that were taken
• Delays between documented findings during pregnancy or delivery and when action was taken
• Written communications between members of hospital staff or between physician and patient
• Documented procedural violations
• Statements from experts and witnesses

The lawyer handling your case can help access and evaluate these records to strengthen your case. They can also identify any additional forms of evidence that may be applicable to your fetal monitoring negligence case. The more evidence you have, the stronger your case can be and the better outcome you can receive.

How to Establish Liability and Recover Damages for Fetal Monitoring Negligence

You are responsible for establishing liability before you can recover damages for your losses. However, before you can fully pursue your case, you must have an outside medical expert who is familiar with fetal monitoring review your case and determine if negligence occurred. Their findings are formally written in a statement so there is documentation about whether or not you have a case. If negligence occurred, then a lawyer can get to work helping you establish liability, which includes showing the following:

• Duty of care: The physician was supposed to regularly monitor a baby’s vitals and condition, read the data carefully, and react in a timely manner when action was necessary.
• Breach of duty: The physician was careless and failed to execute their responsibility to monitor the baby’s condition and provide essential medical care. By doing so, they violated the standard of care you were entitled to receive.
• Causation: The physician’s actions caused complications and injuries that wouldn’t have happened if monitoring was done correctly and swift action was taken.
• Damages: You and your baby suffered injuries that led to increased medical costs and other losses that altered your life and your baby’s future. At-fault physicians must pay for the damages they cause.

For a fetal monitoring negligence case to be successful, each of these elements must be clearly established so no doubt exists about the physician’s role in the resulting injuries. When recovering compensation, damages can include existing and ongoing medical expenses, the cost of developmental aids, any income lost because of time spent away from work, pain and suffering, lost quality of life, and emotional distress, to name a few. Talk to your lawyer about what you can recover in your claim.

Seek Legal Representation Before Initiating a Fetal Monitoring Negligence Claim

Lopez McHugh understands how distressing and emotional the results of fetal monitoring negligence are. Our firm is committed to protecting your rights and aggressively fighting for you when you file a claim against the physician or facility that jeopardized the health of you and your baby. Contact our offices today to schedule a free case review and discuss what comes next.