Malpractice?

What is the name of your state? UT

My wife just had a baby a couple of days ago. She wanted an epidural and her doctor (who is a family practitioner) is learning to put them in, so she agreed to let him do it under supervision of an anesthesiologist. When he put it in he punctured the fiberous tissue that surrounds the spinal cord. This causes a terrible headache referred to as a spinal headache due to the spinal fluid leaking out. It is only relieved by laying down. Then on top of that, they gave her a small dose to start out with and said that when that started to wear off she should tell them so they could start the drip. When it was just starting to wear off, I told the nurse and she said that they would wait until it had totally worn off. Then when they finally decided to start the drip they couldn't find the right pump for it, and even when they did, I'm not convinced they even got it working correctly because my wife had no relief whatsoever. She ended up delivering with no pain relief. Now she still has the terrible headache 3 days later, and she may have to go in to get a blood patch to stop the leaking and hopefully the headache. I am so frustrated that she has to be suffering the side effects of a procedure that she didn't get any benefit from. Is there any legal action we can take?

bjnljholloway
It is a known side-effect/risk of having an epidural that spinal fluid leakage will cause the headaches that you describe. The treatments described to relieve the headache are not indicative of any corrective action.

How in the world would you ever prove that your wife did not receive any benefit from the epidural and that failing to receive any benefit caused any significant damage to your wife?

Help your wife to rest and drink plenty of fluids. Enjoy the baby and don't let these events take away from this very special time.

EC