Undiagnosed Fetal Distress Leads to Baby"s Severe Brain Injury And $4,400,000 Medical Malpractice Case
Physicians and nurses go through years of schooling and practice to build the crucial knowledge and skill base to help patients. People realize that new doctors and nurses need to practice on patients as a way to gain the necessary expertise. We expect that they will make mistakes along the way. If told otherwise most people would likely still allow a physician or nurse in training care for them but would want the treatment to be supervised by an experienced doctor or nurse.
The learning curve is steep yet it does exist. While in the training period these new doctors and nurses will inevitably make errors. Although many mistakes will have minor, if any, repercussions some will cause serious harm or even in the death of a patient. That is why they need supervision by more experienced physicians and nurses who can note and rectify the errors. Otherwise, even one mistake that is not caught by the supervising physician or nurse can produce tragic results.
Recently a claim was reported that discussed how an expectant mother went to the hospital with complaints of nausea and vomiting. The pregnant woman was admitted to the hospital where a nurse in training assumed responsibility for her care. It was the nurse trainee, and not a registered nurse or a doctor who interpreted the strip from the fetal heart rate monitor. Interpreting the strip as normal and concluding that there was no danger to the unborn baby, the nurse trainee discharged the expectant mother. In reality, the baby