Comments on: An Erb Palsy case nets $2.7 million

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 14:15:00 +0000

Or if he or his insurer had simply agreed to settle for policy limits. Looks like he has a bad faith claim against the insurer if it wasn’t his decision to rejet the settlement.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 07:55:00 +0000

“Most cases of shoulder dystocia occur in patients without any risk factors.”

Isn’t vaginal delivery a risk factor for shoulder dystocia? This would have never happenned if the doctor was smart enough to have done a C-section. Would have saved him alot of trouble (and money)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 02:15:00 +0000

Well, I can give credit where it is due for admitting you’re wrong. Thanks.

By: CJD

CJD — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 01:14:00 +0000

You guys are correct on what the attorney said – my mistake.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 00:40:00 +0000

CJD, you are talking about something entirely different. These parents were upset, per their attorney, because the doctors wouldn't admit they were wrong or take responsibility for the disability.

Your link talks about the failure of doctors in responding to patient questions and explaining what has happened.

There is a HUGE difference between explaining what has happened to a patient and making an admission of guilt. I would think, as an attorney, you would recognize this.

By: storkdoc

storkdoc — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 00:33:00 +0000

The problem, CJD, is that shoulder dystocia and erb’s palsy can occur even if you do everything correctly. There is probably no admission of guilt to be had.

Most cases of shoulder dystocia occur in patients without any risk factors. So most of the time when the turtle sign occurs, it’s unexpected. There are then a series of manoeuvers that are done to try and disimpact the stuck shoulder and it may be the fact the the shoulder is stuck to begin with that causes and the erb’s palsy and not the delivery itself

By: CJD

CJD — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 00:15:00 +0000

“The implicit message from these folk is that they would not have sued if only an admission of guilt had been made. I find their suggestion improbable that they would have not pursued legal action in that case.”

Then you are ignoring the statistical evidence that supports that exact claim. You can’t just clam up and expect people to go away as if it never happened.

http://www.memag.com/memag/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=111458

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 20:05:00 +0000

Any vaginal delivery is a missed chance at lowering your malpractice risk. All babies in the US should be delivered by C-Section. Otherwise the OB is saying “I’m willing to risk my malpractice insurance so you can experience the orgasmic pleasure of a vaginal delivery. ” What does the OB have to gain by allowing the woman this luxury? Then again, if he’s delivering babies, the OB is one of the few stupid enough not to limit his practice to GYN only. He deserves to be sued.

By: Gasman

Gasman — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 19:08:00 +0000

“She said the family also was upset that Anastasi at no time acknowledged doing anything wrong during the delivery.
“This family felt like nobody was taking responsibility for this,” Nastri said. “

It’s like plea bargaining in criminal trials, except with no incentive for the doc to plead guilty. The implicit message from these folk is that they would not have sued if only an admission of guilt had been made. I find their suggestion improbable that they would have not pursued legal action in that case.