It is typical for pregnant women to put themselves and their unborn child in the hands of a doctor who will get them through childbirth. It can often take a fair amount of time after the patient is admitted to the hospital before the newborn is delivered. Throughout somepart of this time doctors often depend on the nurses and staff to monitor the expectant mother's situation and to let them know about of any problems that might arise.

The doctor continues to be responsible for supervising the nurses and staff. Additionally, the nurses and staff are accountable for having the knowledge, training and experience to recognise symptoms of issues and for telling the physician if they do come up. The fact is, though, that nurses and staff sometimes fail to satisfy these demands.

Look at the published claim regarding an expectant mother having reached full term started having contractions at at home. On the way the local hospital she began having nonstop extreme pain. When she arrived at the hospital she complained to the nurse that she was in severe pain exclaiming that she felt something was wrong. However the nurse either did not register or dismissed her complaints and did not call the physician, who had still not arrived at the hospital, to inform him.

Instead the nurse acted like this was a normal pregnancy. Critical time passed before she even commenced following the fetal heart rate. Once she finally did understand that the unborn child was experiencing fetal distress. At this point the nurse did inform the obstetrician, who still had not come to the hospital, by telephone. Another obstetrician on the unit took charge and performed an emergency C-section. The severe pain was caused by a placental abruption which led the unborn baby to experience a reduced supply of oxygen resulting in serious brain injury. The child is disabled for life and has to have full time care. The law firm that represented the family documented that the case settled for from the hospital for the nursing not realizing that the pregnant woman had experienced a placental abruption.

In this claim the patient actually alerted the nurse of her feeling that there was a problem with the pregnancy. At this stage in the pregnancy intense persistent abdominal pain can be the result of a placental abruption.

It is not clear why the nurse failed to connect these. If she disregarded the woman's complaints, failed to hear them, failed to have the necessary knowledge, training or experience to properly understand the situation, or discounted her complaints because a placental abruption is commonly (though not always) associated with visible vaginal bleeding, she overlooked symptoms of a serious complication.

The result, however, was a serious injury to the unborn child resulting in a lifelong disability. Due to the damage from the nurse’s mistake the law firm that handled this matter documented that it was able to accomplish a settlement intented to be enough so that the baby has appropriate care for life.