Fetal Heart Monitor Injury Attorney in St. Louis, Missouri
At The Gogel Law Firm, our St. Louis birth injury attorney knows how important fetal monitoring is to the health and well-being of your child during the labor and birthing process.
Fetal monitoring records the heart rate of the fetus for the duration of the mother’s labor, through childbirth. The device can be used internally or externally to monitor the presence or absence of accelerations and decelerations of the heartbeat. The data that is collected from these important devices can alert the physicians, nurses, and medical support staff to distress within the womb, which will dictate their next medical movements.
Our medical malpractice attorney in St. Louis Missouri knows that when medical staff fails to deliver the generally accepted standard of care, resulting in injury or death to the baby or mother, you may have a medical malpractice case.
We understand that when we are talking about you and your baby, nothing is more important. Allow us to lead you through the legal process, so you can pursue the best outcome for your unique circumstances.
What are the Most Common Types of Injuries Associated with Negligent Fetal Heart Monitoring?
Fetal monitoring is typically done in two ways, externally and internally.
External monitoring allows physicians to record a fetus’s heartbeat through the mother’s abdomen and display the data onto a computer, which is then printed on a report known as a fetal monitoring strip.
Internal monitoring requires an electrode — or thin wire — to run from the fetus’s scalp through the cervix. This can only happen when the fetus is in an optimal position, and the mother is adequately dilated. Internal monitoring is commonly used during labor or when external monitoring fails to provide an adequate reading.
Common mistakes can occur during fetal heart monitoring that may impact the mother’s and child’s well-being, which may include failing to:
- Distinguish between the baby’s heart rate and the mother’s heart rate.
- Use continuous monitoring when the circumstances require close care.
- Provide adequate staff who are trained to read and review the data.
- Identify an abnormal fetal heart rate.
- Act when signs of fetal distress have been detected.
- Deliver by cesarean section or operative vaginal delivery when the baby’s health is at risk.
When physicians, nurses, or other medical providers do not identify and react to changes in the baby’s stress, common medical errors may occur, including:
- Asphyxia
- Brain Damage
- Cerebral Palsy
- Developmental Delays
- Learning Disabilities
- Nerve Injuries
- Paralysis
- Stillbirth
When effectively use and interpreted, fetal heart monitoring devices can warn doctors of dangers in time to prevent harm to the baby.
If your physician, or any part of the medical staff, fails to use the equipment, or use it or the data properly, both the mother’s and child’s lives can be placed in significant danger. Even when both survive, the damage may have already been done, and both could suffer life-long damages.
If that is true for you or your baby, we want to help.
Contact Our Fetal Hear Monitor Injury and Fatality Attorneys at The Gogel Law Firm
Contact our dedicated birth injury attorneys in St. Louis today to learn how we can help, starting with a free case review by calling (314) 370-8173 or online to schedule a free consultation.
