An expecting mother spends months preparing for her baby's birth. She may settle a space for the baby to sleep in, purchase clothes, and consider baby names. To lose one's baby because of an accident in the hospital would be very traumatic.
For one mother, this tragic experience happened when she went into labor at 27 weeks of pregnancy. She went to the hospital where doctors performed a scan. The doctor attending to her then told her to stand up and walk to the nurses. The woman reportedly told the doctor that her contractions were very strong and that she could not get up.
However, the doctor ignored the woman's statements and "insisted [she] had to get off the bed." Once she stood up, the woman told the doctor that she could feel the baby's head with her hand. The doctor told her to not hold her hand on the baby's head and once she moved her hand, the baby fell on the floor.
This woman had already experienced intense emotional distress at this point. The doctor then told the woman to pick up her baby and did not help her. She carried the baby to nurses, but the baby died. Another doctor states that it is possible the baby died because of a head injury from the fall or blood loss, among other potential causes.
While most expecting mothers do not experience this type of traumatic event during labor, this mother's experience demonstrates that injury or death can result when medical professionals do not attend to a mother and baby appropriately during pregnancy and labor. There are multiple instances where this woman's doctor could have made a decision that may have saved this baby's life-but, he did not.
This type of experience will probably stick with a woman forever. If a mother believes that her doctor was responsible for a birth injury, she may want to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.
