Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in California

I went into the hospital in Dec.2009 in labor with my 6th child. When I arrived I was dilated 3-4 centimeters. My Dr was out of town and the on call Dr. told the nurse by phone to send me home as I was only 36 weeks along. The nurse decided to let me stay awhile longer as the contractions had not stopped just see if I continued to dilate. I went to a 5-6 centimeters in 1 hour. The nurses took me into a delivery room and prepped for delivery. When the nurse returned from calling the on call Dr. again she informed me the Dr. would not be coming in to deliver my baby and that by not allowing him to stop the labor I was making the baby come early. The drug he wanted to give me is one that I am allergic to but he said I was refusing treatment. My labor stalled and then stopped. My blood pressure kept dropping dangerously low and the nurse had to give me ephedrine. Then the baby's heartbeat was eratic. The next day the Dr. still refused to do anything to move labor forward. Each time I was examined by a nurse there was no change except more bleeding. The on call dr.finally came in to see me and still did not examine me. He just I could wait untill my Dr. came back the next day. When my dr. returned to town I was given pitocin to restart labor and an ultrasound to find out where the baby was stuck. I finally delivered and it was discovered that my placenta was abrupting throughout the 2days of labor. Both my child and I could have died because this Dr wouldn't even examine me. Do I have grounds for a lawsuit or should I just let it go?

thank you,

sm


Asked on 4/10/10, 2:13 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

IF you can get an OB doctor willing to testify that there was malpractice, and if you can show you suffered legally recognizable damage other than delay of delivery, then you can consider filing suit. You can talk to your doctor to see if he will so testify about the on call doctor, or you can seek out and consult with someone else for that purpose. You can't file suit or win a case without such 'expert' testimony available.

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Answered on 4/19/10, 12:05 pm


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