Communication errors are one of the leading factors that can cause preventable medical errors. Communication errors may occur when doctors, nurses or other health care professionals fail to ask the appropriate questions of patients, fail to listen to what patients are saying, and the description or their symptoms, or fail to properly chart a patient's history.
Communication errors can also occur between medical professionals – when doctors and nurse fail to adequately convey patients needs to each other, or fail to follow through with orders.
Recently, a birth injury lawsuit was filed asserting that as a result of communication errors during labor and delivery, an infant was deprived oxygen, and born with a birth injury. The child, now two, has cerebral palsy and suffers from a variety of cognitive and developmental delays.
According to the lawsuit, the infant started to present signs of fetal distress however the doctors and nurses involved failed to act quickly enough. Questions were raised concerning whether the nurses responsible for tracking the mother's progress promptly and completely informed the doctors of the warning signs. Additionally, the complaint alleges that doctors failed to act promptly once the information was conveyed.
Cerebral palsy is a permanent, life long condition and will not improve over time. The hope is that the family will recover damages through their medical malpractice lawsuit in order to help pay for a lifetime of medical expenses and rehabilitation aimed at improving the child's quality of life.
For more information, or if you believe your child has suffered a birth injury as the result of a communication or other preventable medical error, please contact the experienced Los Angeles medical malpractice lawyers at Bostwick & Peterson, LLP for an immediate consultation.