When families turn to modern healthcare facilities for help bringing a new life into this world, they deserve to feel confident, safe, and well cared for. Unfortunately, failure to properly monitor fetal distress during labor can lead to birth defects, severe injuries, and even wrongful death claims. If your family has been affected by this tragic type of malpractice, the Ann Arbor law firm of Goethel Engelhardt, PLLC, can help.
If you’re dealing with the aftermath of birthing injuries or other traumatic experiences caused by medical staff failing to properly monitor and respond to fetal distress, it may be wise to hire a birth injury attorney immediately. A Michigan birth injury attorney with a record of great outcomes in complex natal malpractice cases can help you understand your legal options, gather the necessary evidence, and pursue your birth injury claim effectively in court or negotiations.
The process of delivering a baby is naturally stressful for everyone involved. Parents, doctors, and nurses all have a lot on their minds in these crucial moments. In that intense situation, everyone should have the health and safety of the newborn baby as a top priority. When there is a failure to monitor fetal distress during labor, it can lead to doctors missing signs of serious problems, sometimes with costly and tragic results.
When medical staff fail to adequately monitor for signs of fetal distress before, during, or after labor, this can result in injury, illness, or wrongful death. A Michigan birth injury attorney from Goethel Engelhardt, PLLC, can seek justice and restitution from those responsible. We can go over birth injury laws with you, assert your rights in court, and explain your legal options so that you can focus on recovering from your experience.
If a Michigan Hospital Failed to Monitor Fetal Distress During Labor, Hire a Birth Injury Lawyer
After your special day doesn’t go as planned due to negligence by doctors, nurses, or hospital administrators, the choice to hire a Michigan medical malpractice attorney can be crucial.
Your first instinct after such a challenging and exhausting experience may be to focus on your family and simply accept that things didn’t go according to plan. This is understandable, but it’s also important to understand the value of a claim for failure to monitor fetal distress. Penalties in these medical malpractice cases don’t just hold negligent doctors and hospitals accountable; they can also result in substantial support for you and your family in this trying time.
The Importance of Monitoring for Signs of Fetal Distress
It can be easy for fetal distress to go unnoticed. Even a parent who feels a strong bond with the life growing inside them can’t hope to know exactly what their unborn child is feeling or experiencing. When medical workers fail to adequately monitor fetal vital signs before making medical decisions, outcomes can be disastrous.
According to a study in the National Library of Medicine, prenatal stress doesn’t just have negative consequences for your newborn child; it also impacts their health in ways that can reverberate across their entire lifetime. A Chinese study similarly showed that fetal distress causes serious long-term health risks, like heart disease and diabetes, and that the issue cannot be solved merely by educating pregnant women and giving them access to modern medical care.
We all want to believe we’re putting our families into the most capable care when we choose a doctor, but the unfortunate reality is that fetal distress is all too often the product of medical negligence. When your birthing team fails to adequately monitor for signs of fetal distress, and this results in injury to your baby or yourself, you could hold the hospital liable in a court of law.
Some possible long-term consequences of birth injuries caused by a failure to monitor for fetal distress include:
- Long-term risk factors for heart disease
- Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) leading to cerebral palsy
- Organ damage or failure due to prolonged lack of oxygen
- Seizures
- Stillbirth and wrongful death
The possible underlying causes of fetal distress during the birthing process are as widely varied as the potential negative outcomes. They include:
- Umbilical cord placement (such as becoming wrapped around the baby’s neck or head)
- Placenta injuries or ruptures
- Undiagnosed infections
- Getting stuck in an awkward position during the birth process
Without monitoring the fetus for heart rate, oxygen levels, and signs of movement, doctors can fail to notice serious issues like these, leading to delayed treatment and exacerbated health consequences. If you or your baby has been harmed due to a bad experience in the birthing unit, you may have grounds for filing a medical malpractice claim.
Birth Injuries Caused by Failures to Monitor Fetal Distress
Everyone is entitled to a reasonable standard of treatment when they put their health in the hands of a doctor or hospital, including, and perhaps especially, newborn babies and birthing mothers. For these highly vulnerable patients, competent and dedicated care is absolutely crucial.
When healthcare workers fail to properly monitor fetal distress signals during labor and delivery, the potentially catastrophic results can include:
- Oxygen deprivation
- Brain damage
- Cerebral palsy
- Lifelong disability or disfiguration
- Developmental delays
- Stillbirth or infant death
The above list of serious outcomes is not exhaustive, and abandonment of care by delivery room and maternity ward staff can lead to any number of costly and tragic outcomes for impacted families.
Birth Complications in Michigan
The state of Michigan keeps statistics regarding abnormal births, and only 85.6% of births fall into the category of having none of the listed abnormal conditions.
Put another way, more than 1 in 10 live births in Michigan is “abnormal” in some way, either requiring admission to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), resulting in a serious birth injury, or falling into one of several other categories. This significant statistic underlines the need for dedicated, high-end monitoring of fetal distress signals.
According to the March of Dimes, a nonprofit focused on infant mortality and birth defects, Michigan sees around 10,000 pre-term births annually, and the organization gives our state an unflattering D+ rating in this area. This is another reason meticulous monitoring of heart rate, oxygen, and other key signs is necessary in Michigan delivery rooms, nurseries, and NICUs.
When deciding whether to hire top-rated Grand Rapids medical malpractice attorney to take legal action for medical malpractice, it is important to understand that Michigan birth injury laws can be complex. Corporate healthcare attorneys and insurance agents can be extremely persuasive, if not downright pushy, when they sense they are up against someone with no formal legal training.
Your tragic circumstances will, unfortunately, not dissuade them from their purpose, which is to minimize or outright deny your claim.
Hire a Birth Injury Attorney for the Best Outcome in Fetal Distress Malpractice Cases
The top-notch birth injury and medical malpractice team at Goethel Engelhardt, PLLC, understands the strategies and tricks corporate healthcare giants and slick defense attorneys like to employ in these high-stakes cases. This understanding is built on over four decades of experience predicting and countering these bad-faith tactics and improving our clients’ claims. Our long list of high-value outcomes speaks for itself, and we would be honored to help you next.
We understand that the idea of undertaking a court case can feel extremely overwhelming at a time when you may already be caring for a severely injured child or grieving the loss of a family member.
While we know no legal process can ever fix the damages that have been done to you, our comprehensive legal services aim to take as much weight off of your shoulders as possible so that you can focus on being present for your family and healing from your traumatic experience.
FAQs About Failure to Monitor Fetal Distress During Labor in Michigan
What Are the Complications of Fetal Distress?
The potential complications of fetal distress are many and widely varied. These situations put newborn babies at risk of injury during the birth process, such as brain damage or organ failure due to inadequate oxygen intake. Fetal distress itself can also be linked to lifelong issues with diabetes and cardiovascular health.
Why Don’t People Want Fetal Monitoring During Labor?
There are many potential reasons why someone might not want fetal monitoring during labor, but most medical and neonatal authorities do strongly recommend using modern medical equipment to closely monitor the health of both the baby and the mother during labor. Reasons why someone might resist fetal monitoring equipment include wanting to have as “natural” a birth as possible, but these desires should be carefully weighed against the benefits provided by modern medical technology.
What Are the Signs of Fetal Distress?
The signs of fetal distress can be different from one situation to the next. Every person is unique, and that goes for fetuses and newborn babies as well, meaning they might express themselves in a variety of ways. Excessive or agitated movement is one potential sign, while a total lack of movement is another. It’s wise to get personalized advice directly from a trusted doctor if you have concerns about fetal distress.
Is Fetal Monitoring Necessary During Labor?
Fetal monitoring is necessary during labor if you want the strongest chances for a safe, healthy delivery process. By monitoring your baby’s vital signs during the delivery process, any unforeseen issues can be quickly analyzed and handled, thanks to doctors having immediate access to actionable data about your baby’s key health factors.
What Causes Fetal Distress During Labor?
Many factors can potentially cause fetal distress during labor. A few examples would be biological signals sent by an unwell mother, a displaced umbilical cord causing an oxygen shortage, or malfunctioning delivery room equipment. When hospital staff fail to notice and appropriately respond to fetal distress, the severe consequences can include injuries, illness, lifelong disability, and even infant fatalities in extreme cases.
What Interventions Would a Nurse Do for a Patient Who Is Experiencing Fetal Distress?
The interventions that a nurse would do for a patient who is experiencing fetal distress might vary widely depending on the nature of the fetal distress and the circumstances causing it. Since there are so many potential types and causes of fetal distress, the appropriate interventions are equally varied. This is why it is important for delivery room nurses to know the various signs of all different forms of fetal distress.
How Do You Diagnose Fetal Distress in Labor?
Fetal distress in labor can be diagnosed in a variety of ways, depending on the type of distress, the cause of the distress, and the specific circumstances of that delivery. Every situation is unique, so the path to diagnosing fetal distress is not always the same. Such a diagnosis needs to move quickly for expedited interventions, and might begin with staff noticing an elevated heartbeat, insufficient oxygen, erratic movements, or, conversely, a lack of movement.
What Would Cause a Baby to Fail a Non-Stress Test?
A non-stress test (NST) is not something a baby can fail, per se. It is not actually a “pass or fail” proposition, but one of many tools used to track a baby’s health and detect potential concerns. An NST involves monitoring motion and heart rate. A “nonresponsive” result could mean your baby is suffering from an oxygen deficiency, but it could also mean they’re just ready for bed.
Goethel Engelhardt, PLLC: Michigan’s Trusted Birthing Injury Attorneys
If you or your newborn baby suffered injuries or disabilities during labor and delivery because medical staff failed to adequately monitor for signs of fetal distress, you may have grounds for a medical malpractice case. The same goes for situations where the hospital did monitor your child, but staff nonetheless caused an injury by conducting this monitoring in a neglectful fashion. When you’re ready for powerful legal help, contact Goethel Engelhardt, PLLC, for a consultation.
