QUESTION
Can you sue your doctor for noticing a problem in your pregnancy and not doing anything about it resulting in stillbirth?
Asked on Dec 18th, 2013 on Medical Malpractice - South Carolina
More details to this question:
We went that Thursday and the doctor noticed the chord insert to the placenta was not right and that she wasn't growing. He said "if I felt like it were an emergency I would deliver right now, but I don't" but he never once mentioned anything about taking it easy, or bedrest, nor did he offer to put me in the hospital just to monitor her heart rate. We found out that Monday that she was dead. It just seems like he should have done SOMETHING and he didn't do anything. If he had me under his watch that weekend this all could have been prevented. However, it resulted in the loss of our daughter. Also, the specialist I was referred too (because my OB suspected Down syndrome) and my OB doctor had two different due dates all though I told them that they didn't match in previous appointments.
1 ANSWER
It is possible that you may have a claim against the doctor, hospital, etc, if what the doctor did was not the standard of care for the problem he saw with the placenta. It would depend on what other OB doctors would do in your specific case. Also, you mentioned a specialist that you saw. It would be important to know what kind of specialist you saw, and whether that specialist saw the same problem with your placenta, and what they recommended if anything. That might take some research, and will definitely mean getting another OB doctor to say that what your doctor did was malpractice. The only way to know for sure is to consult with a lawyer, and have the lawyer start investigating the case for you.
Answered on Dec 18th, 2013 at 10:07 AM