Mother Sues Paramedics Whose Actions Led To Death Of Her Baby
Paramedics, who are typically the first on the scene of a medical emergency must give treatment that meets the applicable standard of care. Their ability to determine symptoms, to make quick and accurate choices whether to contact a doctor for help, whether to give medication or perform a procedure at the scene, and whether to transport the person at once to a hospital, can literally make all the difference. Below we explore a lawsuit in which paramedics responded to a pregnant woman who had experienced a placental abruption at almost full term of her pregnancy. When the paramedics responded the woman was already in shock from abrupt loss of blood caused by a placental abruption. The paramedics failed to figure out the urgency of the situation and took approximately eighteen minutes before transporting her to the hospital.
The total delay in the time it took the paramedics prior to making the decision to move the expecting mother to the hospital where the child was delivered was 18 minutes or more. In this time the baby