It is common for expectant mothers to put themselves and their unborn baby in the care of a physician to get them through labor and delivery. It may frequently take a fair amount of time following the patient's admission to the hospital before the baby is born. Throughout somepart of this time physicians often rely on the nurses and staff to keep an eye on the woman’s situation and to keep them up to date of any issues that may arise.

The doctor continues to be accountable for supervising the nurses and staff. Further, the nurses and staff are accountable for having the knowledge, training and experience to recognize symptoms of problems and for telling the doctor when they do arise. The fact is, though, that nurses and staff in some cases fail to satisfy these demands.

Consider the published claim regarding a pregnant woman at full term began experiencing contractions at at home. On the way the local hospital she started experiencing nonstop severe pain. Upon reaching the hospital the woman informed the nurse that she was experiencing major pain and that she thought there was a problem. However the nurse either did not understand or disregarded the woman’s complaints and failed to contact the obstetrician, who had not yet arrived at the hospital, to inform him.

Instead the nurse acted like this was a standard pregnancy. Precious time went by until she even began monitoring the fetal heart rate. When she at last did realize that the unborn baby was suffering from fetal distress. Finally the nurse did inform the obstetrician, who still was not in the hospital, by telephone. A second doctor on the unit took charge and carried out an emergency C-section.

The extreme pain was caused by a placental abruption. The placental abruption cased the unborn baby to suffer from a lack of oxygen leading to severe brain injury. The baby is disabled for life and has to have 24/7 attention. The law firm that handled this matter reported that the case settled for from the hospital for the nursing not spotting that the mother had experienced a placental abruption.

In this claim the patient basically signalled the nurse of her impression that something had gone wrong with the pregnancy. At this stage in the pregnancy extreme continual abdominal pain can be caused by a placental abruption.

It is not clear why the nurse failed to connect these. Regardless if she disregarded the patient’s complaints, did not hear them, did not have the appropriate knowledge, training or experience to properly understand the situation, or discounted her complaints since a placental abruption is often (though not always) accompanied by visible vaginal bleeding, she overlooked signs of a dangerous complication.

The result, however, was a serious injury to the unborn child resulting in a lifelong disability. On account of the harm from the nurse’s mistake the law firm that represented the family reported that it was able to obtain a settlement intented to be enough so that the baby has suitable care for life.