Medical malpractice is one of the most serious problems in the United States, falling behind only cancer and heart disease as the number one cause of death in the country. According to a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) article, there are as many as 225,000 deaths caused by medical malpractice every year. These can be divided into different subcategories:
Medical malpractice is one of the most serious problems in the United States, falling behind only cancer and heart disease as the number one cause of death in the country. According to a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) article, there are as many as 225,000 deaths caused by medical malpractice every year. These can be divided into different subcategories:
· 12,000 deaths that resulted from unnecessary surgery
· 20,000 deaths caused by other medical errors in hospitals
· 7,000 deaths that resulted from medication errors in hospitals
· 80,000 deaths caused by infections
· 106,000 deaths resulting from the adverse effects of medication
According to the Malpractice Report by Medscape Medical News, 80% of medical malpractice lawsuits are won at trial. Every year, one in 14 doctors is sued every year across the country.
Post Partum Hemorrhage
Post partum hemorrhage (PPH) is when a mother loses more than 500cc of blood following a vaginal delivery or loses 1000cc of blood after a cesarean section (C-section). PPH is the most common cause of death among pregnant women. Any woman who is pregnant past the gestation period of 20 weeks is at risk of developing this condition.
Risk Factors and Causes of PPH
There are many risk factors postpartum hemorrhaging including:
· Progress failure during labor
· Vacuum or forceps extraction
· Infant with hypertensive disorders
· Induced labor, lacerations
· Placenta accreta
· Retained placenta
· Pitocin use
The most common causes of PPH have been given the name, “The Four Ts”. – Tone, Tissue, Trauma, and Thrombin.
- Tone – Uterine atony, or tone, is when the uterus is unable to tighten up or contract and results in nonstop bleeding. The most common cause of tone can be an infection or a retained placenta.
- Tissue – When tissue or the retention of the placenta or other conception organs, prevent contraction of the uterus, it can lead to constant bleeding.
- Trauma – Trauma to the uterus, clitoris, cervix, labia, or vagina can cause significant bleeding as a result of blood supply in large amounts in those areas.
- Thrombin – This is a bleeding disorder in which blood is not able to clot after childbirth.
Routine care after delivery should include paying close attention and assessing the mother’s condition, blood pressure, blood loss, uterine size and tone, etc. If PPH is not diagnosed and treated immediately, it can cause the mother to bleed to death. Any delay in PPH diagnosis and treatment can result in shock, organ failure, hypoxia or brain damage or death.
If you or a loved one developed a PPH that was not properly treated by your doctor, you should file a medical malpractice claim against your physician with the help of a trained and experienced birth trauma or medical malpractice attorney from Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff, & Wolff of RMFW Law at 212-344-1000.
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