Medical Malpractice

Birth Injuries: Fetal Distress & Hypoxia

Introduction.  The birth of a baby should be a joyous occasion.  What happens, however, when the doctor or the hospital does something wrong?  The result can be a terribly-injured child with a normal life span who needs significant assistance for many years. The bills can amount to millions of dollars.

Fetal Distress.  The baby needs oxygen during the mother's labor. Sometimes things can go wrong during the labor process which deny the fetus its necessary oxygen and nourishment.  Medical personnel must detect these events and take immediate action to prevent birth injury.  Sometimes, due to negligence, immediate action is not taken.  The result can be significant brain and other neurological damage to the baby.  There are ominous signs of fetal distress that cannot be ignored, and these are often visible on the fetal heart rate monitor.

Hypoxia.  The result of negligence in the birthing process is often too-little oxygen, known as hypoxia or anoxia.  This often means that medical personnel were negligent.

Ischemia.  This condition results from insufficient blood flow to the baby.  This can be caused by negligence which constricts vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients.

Nursing and Medication Errors

Introduction.  Medical malpractice does not happen only in a doctor's office or hospital emergency room.  For more than 30 years, our firm has represented individuals who have been injured as a result of nursing and medication errors.  Unfortunately, it's a tragedy that happens all too frequently.  Every day nurses and other health care professionals across the country commit acts of negligence that can result in serious and permanent injuries for the unfortunate patient.  Whether it involves a pharmacist filling the wrong prescription, or a nurse's mistake resulting from her failure to properly read a patient's chart, medical malpractice in the U.S. results in millions of dollars of additional medical expenses for injured patients, and a lifetime of pain and suffering, both for the patient and for his or her loved ones.

Nursing Errors.  Nursing mistakes can involve any of the following:

• Dispensing wrong medication
• Dispensing wrong dose of medication
• Giving a medication to the wrong patient
• Failing to monitor patient's condition
• Failing to follow physician's orders as to the care required
• Performing medical procedures without proper training
• Delaying vital care for hours

Injuries.  The injuries that can result from nursing and medication errors are often worse than the underlying illness or condition that initially led the patient to seek medical assistance, and can involve permanently disabling, catastrophic and sometimes fatal conditions. As a result, if you are victimized by this type of medical malpractice, you may be entitled to substantial money damages, even in cases involving what may appear to involve only minor injuries.

Results.  Our firm has represented several individuals who have suffered birth injuries resulting in serious brain or other damage and other medical malpractice cases throughout Utah. We have achieved six and seven figure results. We are willing and able to try cases in court that do not settle fairly.

What to Do?  It is important to get all of your medical records.  Contact the Utah medical malpractice attorneys at Robert B. Sykes & Associates, P.C. by e-mail, or call us at (801) 533-0222 for a free consultation.