Malpractice?

What is the name of your state? Georgia

My daughter was born July 3, 2001. The morning of her birth I had and amniocentisis to check for lung maturity. Because I had previously went into preterm labor I was to be monitored for and hour and then sent home if everything was ok.

During this time I experienced some major cramping from the amnio. My dr. decided to keep me a while longer. I experienced decelerated rates in the heartbeat and the heartbeat stayed down.

After two more episodes, the dr. decided to perform an emergency c-section after his next surgery.

For some reason they could not get an O.R. to perform the surgery. I waitied from one o'clock until 9:30 for them to do the c-section. Because of the rush the maternity ward experienced during this time, we were put on the back burner because the baby stablized and did not have any more decelerations.

My little girl did have some slight problems at birth. Extremely low body temp, 92.8 degrees and the inablity to maintain her body temp.

Over the past three years we have been to many specialist, ,attended hundred's of hours of therapy and no one can identify what is wrong with her. She had extreme low muscle tone, very delayed in her gross and fine motor skills, extremely speech delayed and has many other problems.

I suspect these problems have something to do with the lack of oxygen and the delay in her arrival.

Because we have not been given a diagnosis could we still seek a malpractice suit against the hospitial because of the delay?

I am not saying the doctor was at fault, he just was not able to get and or.

Not sure what to do.

I know in the state of Georgia the statute is 2 years but because we are now finding out more problems we may have a bye on the statute.

Until you have a Dx it is hard to have an idea what to do, there is usually some language around when you discover the injury, in this case you are not sure if the injury is caused by the care you received or something that would have happened anyway. With all the miracles of modern medicine we take for granted that there will be an answer for every problem that arises and that many children live that would have not survived a few years ago. You did not say how many weeks you were at PTL and at C/S or what treatments you were given to delay labor or mature the lungs. I take it that CP was ruled out but what about epilepsy and infections? I take it your child is in an early start DD program. I'm sorry if I don't have the answers you are looking for.

rmet4nzkx said:

Until you have a Dx it is hard to have an idea what to do, there is usually some language around when you discover the injury, in this case you are not sure if the injury is caused by the care you received or something that would have happened anyway. With all the miracles of modern medicine we take for granted that there will be an answer for every problem that arises and that many children live that would have not survived a few years ago. You did not say how many weeks you were at PTL and at C/S or what treatments you were given to delay labor or mature the lungs. I take it that CP was ruled out but what about epilepsy and infections? I take it your child is in an early start DD program. I'm sorry if I don't have the answers you are looking for.

Click to expand...

My PTL started at 32 weeks, i was given MAG Sulfate, terb, brethine, demerol, valium, and several other meds. The c/s was performed at 37 weeks.

One Neuro has suggested CP but that was a sidenote. Our current Neuro hasn't had any thoughts on CP.

We have often wondered about epilespsy because of the tremors she had while in the hospital.

This may be one of those cases where we may never know but I just want to make sure we are doing everything we can.

Neonatal tremors are common because the child's neurological systems are not fully developed. Epilepsy can occur without seizures. Some infections of the amniotic fluid can develop quickly and attack the unborn baby, other conditions also affect the amniotic fluid such as ICP which can cause stillbirth so a healthy child might be silently affected and the emergency C/S may have saved your baby's life but after the damage was done, you did say that there was decelleration but stablized so I am assuming that you were monitored so hypoxia is less likely as there would have been more decellaration. It sounds like CP was R/O which is the most common result of hypoxia and that other dystrophies have been R/O as well. There may be no way to tell some things at this point but your doctors have access to the records and it really sounds like you are doing everything possible. If you have the opportunity gather as much information about the health in your families, sometimes there are histories that suggest genetic disorders or systemic disorders, a detailed history may give some clues so if you have not had a referral for a genetic evaluation that might be in order. There are some rare disorders that may take years to Dx. Make sure you access the available services for early education intervention and look into support groups for other parents with seriously ill children they can provide both suport and other resources.

Tankerwife
I believe you should consult with a medmal attorney who has experience litigating claims for damages due to pregnancy related issues, including injury to the fetus.

During your premature labor at 32 fetal gestation, the mag sulfate could have caused the fetus to develop loss of muscle tone and,or loss of bone strength. Demerol is contraindicated in pregnancy and must be given with due caution and careful monitoring of maternal and fetal status, preferably with the mother's receiving Oxygen supplement. Valium is also contraindicated in pregnancy; in the first trimester, it causes significant birth defects. At 32 weeks gestation, birth defects are not a concern but suppression of the infant's oxygenation is.

My gut feeling is that no MD can tell you what is wrong with your daughter because each MD knows that your daughter should have been delivered by emergency C-section no matter which OR procedure had to be rescheduled and as a result, your daughter suffered hypoxia with resulting brain damage; thus, the flacid muscles and developmental delays.

I am not concerned about the low temp or the tremors or inability to maintain body temperature regulation; those are newborn traits that occur in the absence of any indication of a problem.

If you know your daughter's APGAR scores, those scores can help you understand her physical condition at one minute after birth and five minutes after birth. If her scores were <7, APGAR scoring should have continued every 5 minutes until the baby stablized or was intubated, etc.

There may or may not be negligence that resulted in these damages, but I suggest you have an attorney investigate the matter.

Best wishes,
EC