Thursday, 28 June 2012
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Family Awarded $55 Million In Medical Malpractice Suit
A Maryland family have been awarded $55 million after their newborn son was left with severe brain damage following an emergency c-section. After complications arose during their home birth, the family rushed to Johns Hopkins Hospital where doctors ordered an emergency c-section. The c-section was performed 2 hours after being ordered. Their baby was deprived of oxygen and now suffers from cerebral palsy and seizure disorder.
The family is planning to use their compensation to provide care for their son, who requires round-the-clock care. Because of a state cap, the amount will be reduced to around $30 million.
Hopkins plans to appeal the verdict, according to a spokesman. The hospital denies that it was negligent in the care of the mother and lawyers say that the baby had lost oxygen during the early stages of the mother's home birth.
So who's to blame: Mom and dad for wanting a home birth, or the hospital for delaying an *emergency* c-section by 2 hours? And was the c-section truly delayed, and for what reason?
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Comments (45)
I'd like to know why they waited 2 hours to do the emergency c-section.
I'm sure it wasn't on purpose and I'm sure that the hospital did not WANT this outcome, but it just seems odd to me and I would want to know more before making any judgements.
So, I wouldn't really blame anyone. There are risks in births and things happen. Both hospitals and mothers just want healthy babies, but sometimes things go wrong and it's hard to explain.
Just my opinion.
I agree with the above.
But, my skeptical side wonders if this doctor was making a statement about homebirth, and unfortunately the baby is the one suffering the consequence for his judgmental attitude.
Having professionally worked with multiple Emergency Departments and Operating Rooms and staff, I am familiar with procedures and policies. John Hopkins is a level 1 trauma center (the highest alert level). That means they HAVE to have certain staff and departments ready 24/7. This includes their trauma bays and operating rooms. Unless some catastrophic event was going on that none of us know about which completely consumed all available resources - I can't see what legs the dr has to stand on to say he didn't do anything wrong. And obviously the judge or the jury (whoever found in favor of the family) agrees.
Why did the hospital wait? Without that, I am not sure how much of it was the hospital's fault. The child was probably being deprived of oxygen while she was trying to birth him at home. Who was she going to sue if she had her child at home and he still had problems? Her midwife? If the hospital was negligent then she should be rewarded money. However, if she insisted on waiting and still trying to give birth, the hospital couldn't force her. Both parties are likely to blame.
Obviously, someone screwed up and an insurance company paid for it.
The thing I've never gotten about these situations is that the people are essentially saying that money is a solution to the problem. So now you're rich. But it still happened. If I were in that situation I'd be more heartbroken that it had to happen in the first place than caring about getting money from someone.
@TheGuyYouD0ntKnow@xanga - I feel like the money is the only way they could get recognition from the hospital or the doctor that what they did was wrong. I guarantee they never even apologized. It is also a way to let other people know about this act of negligence, if that is what they deemed it. It's a way to make a record of the event so others know - which holds the doctor and hospital to a higher standard.
Not sure how it could be bad.
I don't think I can pass judgment either way since it's not like I was the woman's midwife/doula or a hospital staff member. I do, however, wonder why the c-section was delayed for that amount of time... Two hours seems ridiculous considering the mother had been laboring at home first and then had to be transported. I'm no expert on home birthing, but if a woman in labor has to be rushed to the hospital due to complications, wouldn't the situation be considered serious enough to take immediate action? I also wonder if the oxygen deprivation began while the mother was still at home.
I do not feel the mother and father are to blame at all whatsoever. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to birth your baby in your own home. In fact, after all the seemingly unnecessary things I've experienced while at the hospital during labor, delivery and post delivery, I've been seriously considering a home birth if I have any more babies.
i wish this would happen to me....i could use the 30 million
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - That's what I was thinking.
OP: But really, who knows? Perhaps it's not anyone's "fault". Maybe it was just a series of circumstances.
Sounds like the hospital made a mistake to me. Why would they pay the family that money if they hadn't done anything wrong? I think even a pro-homebirth judge needs good evidence that it WAS delayed to come to that sentence.
It is pretty biased to doubt that, even if you can still argue against homebirth and find that they are being greedy.
@TheGuyYouD0ntKnow@xanga - But money is needed to take care of the child until he dies given his permanent disability. I would bet my money on the parents trading the $55M to have a healthy baby but since their baby is not healthy, they need to be compensated for the mistake. It's not like the parents are using the money to go on vacation.
@dead_poetic009xx@xanga - you must not be a parent because our #1 wish in life is a happy and healthy baby. I would trade my life to make sure my kids are healthy let alone $55M.
I really never had a problem with the idea of home births until my own son nearly died. If I had given birth at home, he would have. I know that women have given birth at home since the beginning of time, but the death rates were unreal. In this day and age, I just think it's irresponsible to give birth at home.
@dead_poetic009xx@xanga - That is one of the most ignorant things I have ever read. :/
I hope when you decided to have children or have another one that you don't get your wish. No person deserves to live like this or carry the burden of taking care of someone with these health problems. :/
@dancingrain4u@xanga - 55 Million? That's all I'm saying.
I don't know. But Jodi Picoult can write another book about it.
I'd need to know why any emergency C-section took two hours! I had a birth center birth with a midwife and she had a setup with the closest hospital and a couple of doctors that she worked with. If I had needed an emergency C-section there would have been a doctor available to do it.
They sure didn't treat it like much of an emergency if it they waited two hours. Regardless of whether the baby was deprived oxygen while they were still at home or not.....the hospital was still being negligent and should be punished.
The way the hospital treated them tells me that it wouldn't matter if they had been at the hospital from the minute she went into labor.
@MyBurningSky@xanga - @dancingrain4u@xanga - guys, i'm not being serious, i'd never wish this on anyone. 30 million isn't enough to heal what happened to that family.
I'm going to say that probably falls under "shit happens" and isn't the hospital's fault. I'd suspect the rooms were taken up or that something else prevented better timing. I highly doubt everyone was just standing around with their thumbs up their asses.
THIS is part of why healthcare costs so much.
Well, let's put it this way.. After 10 minutes of oxygen deprivation, brain damage begins to set in. So somewhere within that 2 hour time frame, the brain damage had to have happened. If it occurred before then, the baby would most likely be dead. So I would pin this on the hospital because if an emergency c section was going to be put off that long, they could have sent the couple to a different hospital or put off a less severe case to get them in OR in enough time.
Either way, this is such a sad story. If I were that little boy.. what a horrible life to never fully be able to live. Why not give them the money, small price to pay for ruining a family's life. This is what malpractice insurance is for.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - I work in the surgical services department at a level 1 trauma center, and I can tell you that WE ALWAYS have a trauma team available 24/7. Our OB department also has a team available for emergency c-delivery. If her delivery was truly delayed for 2 hours, I would have to venture to guess that they counted transport time (from her home to the hospital) in that 2 hour window.
I had a friend who worked as an assistant to a "lay" midwife decades ago. A "lay" midwife is someone who doesn't have a formal education in midwifery. When I asked her if her employer was affiliated with a physician, she said "No, and she wasn't even a nurse." She admitted that they would have to call for an ambulance if any of their patients had complications. Their patients only saw the midwife, had NO labwork done, no ultrasounds, just basic pioneer/primitive prenatal care. Some had insurance, most didn't. I would hate to think that this couple employed a "lay" midwife, but that might explain the delay if it weren't a transport issue.
It's a fine line though, to determine fetal distress during a home birth. At the hospital we have have fetal heart monitors so we can detect changes in the heart rate, and quickly act on changes that indicate that a baby isn't doing well. They don't have that for home births. If mom or baby aren't completely healthy, then those early signs are missed.
@beesuze@xanga - The midwives today are licensed and in every way educated professionals, nothing like the "lay" midwives you describe. Some (maybe most, but I'm not 100% sure) also have the medical equipment you don't really picture being at a homebirth. The midwife group I looked into (but couldn't see because of a prior cesarean) had all the monitors the hospital had, including fetal monitors, heart monitors, dopplers, etc.
The 2 hour time frame was after arrival at the hospital, after a physician ordered the cesarean. It didn't include transport time etc.
Everyone is most assuredly entitled to their opinion on homebirth or hospital birth, and usually those opinions are based on whatever personal experiences we have had or who we are affiliated with (and therefore have vested interest in - in other words we must believe what we do is best or question our profession entirely and that is a difficult position to be in). But the judge (or jury) in this case determined that the single factor in this scenario which harmed this baby was the 2 hour delay caused by the physician in question - not by the choice to try and give birth at home with a qualified, capable professional.
You know, the article linked in the post is from a tabloid, which, among other things, are somewhat known for wild exaggerations :P