A relative was pregnant and was told the baby was stuck in her fallopian tube.
She then received news she would need to have a surgical procedure in order to remove the child.
Later she had her surgery in which they removed the fallopian tube and then realized the child was NOT in her tube but was still growing in her uterus. The child was aborted.
There was no reason for the surgery and caused a loss of her child due to the doctors careless mistake. What legal action can be taken? And what can be done to the doctor and done FOR the mother
Overnight
That's pretty out-there. Better meet with an attorney for this one.
Doc Bill
This story does not hold water, for a very important reason: an ectopic pregnancy is an acute surgical emergency - there would be no "later she had her surgery". It would need to be done immediately. Another reason - there is no way a physician is going to mistake a normal implantation and pregnancy for an ectopic.
Why did you make this up?
Jason W
A pregnancy in the fallopian tube (also called an "ectopic pregnancy") is a surgical emergency. Untreated, the chances of the mother hemorrhaging and dying are very high.
It wasn't necessarily the result of carelessness. The diagnostic tests used to see an ectopic pregnancy are good, but not perfect. If the patient's symptoms seem to indicate an ectopic pregnancy, and the ultrasound images seem to confirm this, then it would be medical malpractice *not* to operate, since the stakes are so high. There is simply no ability to "wait and see."
Now about the legal standard of malpractice. In tort law, a physician or surgeon is not expected to be a 100% correct: they are simply required to be reasonably competent. A reasonably competent physician's diagnoses are often wrong. That is the nature of medicine. The rate of misdiagnosis for trauma patients brought in by ambulance, for example, in the hectic environment of the emergency room, is often estimated at 30%. The physician is liable only if it is their *fault* that the diagnosis was wrong. That is: would a competent doctor, reviewing the same symptoms, have done any better?
Legally, if the mother's symptoms were at all consistent with ectopic pregnancy, then it would be very difficult to sustain a malpractice action, because of the seriousness of the condition. Even if the symptoms and test results only indicated a 50% chance that the pregnancy was ectopic, then prevailing medical standards would probably mandate immediate surgery, since the consequences of failing to operate are so grave.
Sherry
You need to see a lawyer.
Orignal From: Medical malpractice involving pregnancy?
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