Sued for being late to a delivery

An obstetrician is sued for being late to a delivery:

Suppose an obstetrician’s patient goes into labor, and for whatever reason the obstetrician is unable to make it to the hospital in time. So he calls in and has others cover for him to perform the delivery. Can the late obstetrician still be liable if injuries occur during delivery?

Comments

Anonymous
I know a guy who got sued for abandonment because others had to follow his inpatients after he had an MI. He “won” of course, but people can file suit over anything.
The Independent Urologist
It is a simple solution for OB. Every private practice doc stop doing it and let only doctors who are employed by the state take the risk. Then it is the state, like FL or NY, who pays out in the case of successful suits.
And, when the average person has to travel 30 miles for a delivery and EMS is overwhelmed with roadside deliveries, change will ensue. Until then, hold on tight.
Mitch Keamy
The court gave this ob a “summary judgment.” Case dismissed. Anybody who can establish standing can file a suit. Alls well that ends well, and the precedent is again reinforced…
Cheers!
Mitch
Bohemian Road Nurse…
I am extremely disgusted with this sue-happy generation. It is becoming ridiculous.
I recently heard of a family who threatened to sue a home health agency because their nurses had told their mother (the patient) that her refusal to follow any of the doctor’s orders could cause life-endangering consequences to her health.
The family angrily stated that the nurses’ warning the woman of those consequences “had frightened her”.
Goddang, get REAL! These people actually wanted to sue for being told the truth about what would happen if the patient didn’t follow the doctor’s orders!
Sure enough, she died three weeks later. (And so they dropped their plan to sue….)
Anonymous
This “sue happy” generation actually sues less than it did 20 years ago. The only increased suits are those of businesses suing each other.
Get the facts before you get too fired up. Threats are not lawsuits.
Anonymous
CJD:
Giving numbers without a source is meaningless. You did go to law school didn’t you?
Anonymous
Threats are not lawsuits- until they become lawsuits. How are we supposed to distinguish one from the other?
Oh yeah, Hire a LAWYER!
Anonymous
How do you distinguish a threat from a lawsuit? Be serious.
Anon, I’m not like you – I don’t just guess at things and make them up. You can check out the National Center for State Courts reports, issued annually I believe.
Anonymous
Interestingly, the firm representing the plaintiff was primarily a defense firm.
Jaz
Found this:
Medical Malpractice Filings are Decreasing While Numbers of Doctors are Increasing
* The number of physicians in the United States has steadily increased from 268 per 100,000 population in 1996 to 285 per 100,000 population in 2002.
* From 2000 through 2002, the three most recent years of data available, the rate of physicians has risen in every single state.
* Medical malpractice filings per 100,000 population have fallen by 1% since 1998.
Damage Awards are Down
* Median payout for all tort cases dropped 56 percent between 1992 and 2001. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the trend in damage size for tort cases is down. The median inflation-adjusted payout in all tort (personal injury) cases dropped 56.3% between 1992 and 2001 to $28,000.
Lawsuit Filings are Decreasing
* Tort filings have declined 5% since 1993.7
* Contract filings, which are more likely to involve businesses than tort cases, rose by 21% over the same period.
* Automobile tort filings, which make up the majority of all tort claims, have fallen by 5% since 1993 and by 14% since their high in 1996.
# Medical Malpractice Filings per 100,000 Population in 11 and 17 States, 1993-2002, National Center for State Courts, 2004.
# Civil Trial Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 2004
# Health Care State Rankings, 1998 through 2004, “Rate of nonfederal physicians,” Morgan Quinto.
Anonymous
This happened to me. My ob was on call but left instructions for her staff to phone her, not page her. She left her pager on her kitchen table and went to bed. They continued to page her and she never answered. I delivered in the middle of the night and the attending gave me a huge episiotomy that I didn’t need. Well, he didn’t know my case; I could have been any woman off the street…pre-natal care or not.
My physician was apologetic, sort of, but the buck did stop with her, not blaming it on the staff.
We were very lucky that mom and baby were OK…but I always wondered what I would have done if there was a complication. Would I have sued? Probably not.
me
why exactly is birth “a procedure” in the first place? what kind of bull is that!
http://www.meyersmedmal.com jimeyers
A thoughtful OB would be well advised to delegate to qualified MDs responsibilities for attending deliveries when the principle OB is not available. In addition patients should be informed of the possibility that the OB they have selected will not necessarily be the OB who attends the delivery. When such precautions have been taken there are no grounds for a law suit. If a suit is filed anyway the insurer can quickly dispose of it without consequnce tto the physician. In Pa. if there was a basis for a claim against the delivering physician to whom the delegation was made, and the plaintiff mindlessly includes the absent OB, the absent OB need only have a certificate3 of noninvolvement filed by insurance counsel and is immediately out of the case.
Those who think the only way to deal with frivolous lawsuits is to impair the rights of all legitimate claimants should be careful what they wish for. Impairment of the right of civil action was one of the enumerated reasons for our declaration of independence.

Sued for being late to a delivery

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