A placental abruption is a serious complication that can arise late in pregnancy. There is no treatment for a placental abruption. It can cause serious injury to the baby or even result in a stillbirth. In certain cases it can also lead to the death of the mother. When a pregnant patient presents with symptoms that indicate the possibility of a placental abruption, doctors and nurses must either rule out the possibility of a placental abruption or take action immediately in order to protect the baby and the mother.

A placental abruption is often accompanied by heavy vaginal bleeding and by pain in the lower back and abdomen. Depending on where and how much of the placenta separates from the uterus, however, there may be no visible bleeding. Other symptoms that may indicate a placental abruption include a drop in the fetal heart rate as the unborn baby is deprived of oxygen, a change in blood pressure, and unusual contraction patterns.

The following cases illustrate how doctors and nurses sometimes miss these symptoms

Case 1:

This case involved a pregnant woman who at age 38 went to see her obstetrician with persistent vaginal bleeding accompanied by back and abdominal pain. She was sent home. The next day she went to the hospital due to massive vaginal bleeding. The doctor at the hospital interpreted the readings from the fetal heart rate monitor as reassuring.

The doctor concluded that labor had not yet commenced. Without conducting a full workup for the bleeding and the fail and without ordering an ultrasound the doctor and sent her home even though she continued to complain of vaginal bleeding accompanied by abdominal pain. Her symptoms had been caused by a placental abruption. The baby was later born still. The law firm that handled this matter reported that the case went to trial with a resulting verdict of $1,651,166.

Case 2:

This case was pursued by parents who lost their baby during childbirth. The mother was admitted to the hospital for labor and delivery. During her initial examination it was noted that she had high blood pressure. Yet, there were no further blood pressure readings after that one shortly after her admission. As labor progressed the labor and delivery nurse noted that the woman was exhibiting contraction patterns that were unusual.

The nurse did not make a connection between the two signs and thus did not consider that the woman may have experienced a placental abruption. Given that a placental abruption was not considered the labor and delivery nurse did not try any resuscitative measures to save the baby. The law firm that handled this case reported that the case settled for $300,000.

Analysis:

The woman in the first case exhibited the two classic symptoms of a placental abruption. Yet, not only did her obstetrician and later the hospital physician failed to consider it as a possibility but both failed to order a work up to identify the cause of these symptoms. They simply did not consider the symptoms sufficiently significant.

The woman in the second had a different presentation. She did not have the classic symptoms of a placental abruption but there were other signs that a complication had developed. High blood pressure at this stage of the pregnancy should raise suspicion that something may be wrong and trigger the close monitoring of the woman’s blood pressure throughout the remainder of her labor. Taken in combination with the high blood pressure the unusual contraction patterns should also have raised concern. Yet, the nurse took no action and did not notify a physician of these signs.

When doctors and nurses fail to recognize that abnormal developments in a pregnancy may be the result of a serious complication and so not diagnosing that a placental abruption has occurred, do not performing an emergency C-section (or in the case of nurses not notifying a doctor), and that baby is born still as a result, those doctors and nurses may be liable for malpractice.

Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney focused on complex injury cases, including birth injury medical malpractice cases. You can learn more about placental abruption injuries at his website. www.birth-injury-malpractice-law.com.