Obstetrical Mistakes Can Cause Devastating Harm to Women and their Newborn Babies

Obstetrical errors are an assault on the health of a woman at a very vulnerable time

Your obstetrical care should be beyond reproach. When you are bringing new life into the world, you rely on your Obstetrician to guide and oversee what should be a wonderful time with care and competence. But when the ineptitude, inexperience or negligence of an OB doctor or his team leads to serious mistakes, this joyous occasion can quickly turn into a nightmare. At The Eisen Law Firm, we are only too aware of the shattering consequences of inadequate OB care for an expectant mother. Our empathetic Ohio medical malpractice lawyers understand what you and your loved ones are going through, and we make every effort to build your case and obtain maximum compensation without adding to your emotional burden.

Common obstetrical errors

Most OB errors are entirely preventable with the proper training, care and attention. Unfortunately, things can go terribly wrong during labor and delivery. Many of those things are the result of poor OB care. There are a number of different areas where an OB team can make inexcusable errors:

• Communication issues – When the nurses, emergency room, OB staff, lab, and/or anesthesiologist don’t communicate properly or effectively, the potential for serious error is high.
• Errors in clinical judgement – If a patient presents with symptoms of an ailment or potentially serious condition, the failure to recognize or act on this information can lead to dangerous problems, such as an undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy, undiagnosed preeclampsia or gestational diabetes.
• Delayed treatment/diagnosis – Closely associated with clinical judgment errors, delayed treatment or diagnosis may be the result of carelessness, inexperience or incompetence.
• Improper prenatal testing – A failure to perform the proper prenatal tests can also result in delayed or failed diagnosis and the timely recognition of dangerous conditions.
• Insufficient documentation – A thorough history and documentation are essential for comprehensive and competent care.
• Administrative mistakes – Office staff may neglect to inform the patient or doctor of essential test results, omit messages or make other mistakes that detrimentally impact OB care.
• Poor supervision – Proper oversight and supervision of nurses and physician assistants that help care for patients is necessary to ensure safe and efficient care.
• Poor management of pregnancy/improper prenatal care – This covers a wide range of issues and omissions, from diagnostic errors and delays to a failure to inform a patient of alternative treatment options and falling below the standard of medical care.
• Delivery errors – Negligence in the delivery room includes anesthesia errors, mistakes during vaginal delivery and instrument misuse, as well as technical errors and failure to call for an indicated emergency Cesarean section. Following delivery, critical mistakes may be made in the resuscitation of a newborn who is not breathing.

Devastating Consequences of OB errors

The extensive list of OB errors and omissions have the potential of devastating consequences, such as:

• Birth injuries
• Sterility
• Hysterectomy
• Uterine rupture
• Chronic pain
• Sepsis/Infection
• Spread of undiagnosed cancer
• Psychological trauma
• Serious vaginal tears
• Hemorrhaging
• Incontinence
• Organ damage
• Coma
• Brain damage
• Cerebral palsy
• Death