toughest desicion I may have to make

[ortiz34]

As some of you know my now four year old daughter was born pre mature. Was in ICU for nine days. Fast forward till she was three to four months and we started noticing she was using her left hand for everything. At her check up it was mentioned to her pedi. In which she was immediately sent to childrens hosp in Boston for an mri. It concluded she suffered a stroke. The nueroligists can't pinpoint when it happened but suspect before birth.
When she was born she was unresponsive/blue/not breathing, and had to be resistated. All of which we were never told until my wife asked her pediatrician at her next check up what her scores and notes were when she was born.
Long story short, she NEVER was giving a cat scan, HELLO...she wasn't breathing= brain damage. Medical procedure 101. Lots's of other factors in this leading up to the birth as my wife had high blood pressure and signs of pre clampsia four days before emergency birth.

I have been researching and talking to people and they are amazed I haven't filed any malpractice suits. I'm thinking of taking that leap. She can't get dressed/go to the bathroom among many other things a normal four y/o should be able to do. Ours and her life's have changed forever, therapy, braces, fighting useless school systems for services, endless Dr appointments and just emotional BS.

I've never sued anyone or thought about it in my life, but the more time goes on I feel things could have been handled a bit different, I'm not def blaming them for the stroke. More so on how the birth was handled, no diagnoses, no brain scan for a human that was basically dead and no oxegon to the brain...smh. The emotional and financial burden this has put my family through is unreal. Hope none of you ever have to go through such things with their own children. Godspeed.

What say you?

 

[EnderJE]

If that were my kid, I'd likely be out for blood too. Good luck and sorry to hear about your troubles.

 

[binö]

damn maing heart wrenching story...she's gonna be alright though?

 

[EarthRider]

SO sorry to hear that bro, i'd go after them. You're baby girl is precious, and those involved need to take there jobs seriously. I can't imagine carrying the burden you are carrying. My girls mean more to me than anything, and if someone fucked them up by not doing there job, i'd go after them. My wife is a nurse, and she would advise you to do so too

 

[Bruvstar]

Really emotional reading through that. I really hope it all works out, and your able to live your lives to the fullest.

I'm half tempted to get on a plane, fly out there, and pound those doctors heads into the floor.

You being as composed, understanding and coping as well as you are.. You must be a great person.

Good luck for the future and all the best to your family.

Ben

 

[TableFun]

As some of you know my now four year old daughter was born pre mature. Was in ICU for nine days. Fast forward till she was three to four months and we started noticing she was using her left hand for everything. At her check up it was mentioned to her pedi. In which she was immediately sent to childrens hosp in Boston for an mri. It concluded she suffered a stroke. The nueroligists can't pinpoint when it happened but suspect before birth.
When she was born she was unresponsive/blue/not breathing, and had to be resistated. All of which we were never told until my wife asked her pediatrician at her next check up what her scores and notes were when she was born.
Long story short, she NEVER was giving a cat scan, HELLO...she wasn't breathing= brain damage. Medical procedure 101. Lots's of other factors in this leading up to the birth as my wife had high blood pressure and signs of pre clampsia four days before emergency birth.

I have been researching and talking to people and they are amazed I haven't filed any malpractice suits. I'm thinking of taking that leap. She can't get dressed/go to the bathroom among many other things a normal four y/o should be able to do. Ours and her life's have changed forever, therapy, braces, fighting useless school systems for services, endless Dr appointments and just emotional BS.

I've never sued anyone or thought about it in my life, but the more time goes on I feel things could have been handled a bit different, I'm not def blaming them for the stroke. More so on how the birth was handled, no diagnoses, no brain scan for a human that was basically dead and no oxegon to the brain...smh. The emotional and financial burden this has put my family through is unreal. Hope none of you ever have to go through such things with their own children. Godspeed.

What say you?

Would there have been some intervention that could have helped if they determine the stroke most likely occurred well before birth? That will be the big question. How premature was she?

 

[nangiggles]

what would be the main factor in the suit, emotional damage? you have to be very careful with how you file the claim, here in FL if you lose the case you have to compensate the other party, so not only could you lose you might also be financially responsible for their legal fees which would be pretty bad, a guy here sued Disney, they offered him $160k and he declined it because he was a cocky SOB, verdict came in and not only did he lose but he had to pay them $250k in fees and reparation. Find a good lawyer and have a long st down with them contemplating all scenarios according to your state laws.

 

[miplank]

Wouldn't suing only bring more stress and financial burden?

 

[youpissmeoff]

Wouldn't suing only bring more stress and financial burden?

You might as well get it over with since you are going to be thinking about it all your life. However, from reading what Table said, what did you expect the Dr to do different that would change the outcome?

Seems the your daughter was still going to be born early.

Dude it is easy for us to make these comments as we have no emotional attachment. I have seen the picture you posted of your daughter and she would melt my heart. My advice woudl be to love her for what she is and move on.

 

[canadianhitman]

I guess the main factor here in my opinion is whether the stroke was caused by anything they did. If the answer is no, then I really don't see the merit of a lawsuit. It's not as if them diagnosing the stroke well after it happened in the womb would have lessened any of the damage. From the limited info you have shared there, it would seem the hospital did a bang-up job of recognizing the baby being in distress and executing the very difficult birth to the best of their ability. Your only legit beef IMO was them not diagnosing what had happened right away, and really, aside from a little bit of mental anguish of not knowing what was wrong, that didn't change a damn thing with regards to the outcome. Hate to say it bro, but if I were sitting on that jury, you'd get very little.

 

[WoodyO]

My opinion would be to leave it, and focus on your daughter. A long drawn out lawsuit could just cause more stress and grief for you and your lady.

 

[binö]

Wouldn't suing only bring more stress and financial burden?

don't lawyers usually work pro bono in malpractice suits?

 

[Headholio]

I don't think pro bono is the right term. More like on a contingency basis.
It wouldn't hurt to talk to a lawyer. A good lawyer would be honest and tell you if you deserve damages or if you just need to accept the fact that sometimes really shitty things just happen in life.
If he thinks you have a case, then he should work on contingency ie, get paid only if he wins. But if nan is right and you would have to pay the other sides costs if you lose, then the lawyer better be sure of himself before you get into it.

Either way, best of luck to you. Love and enjoy having your daughter. That is the best healing there is.

 

[smurf2]

Sounds like you need to consult with an actual attorney to determine if you have grounds for a case at all.

 

[miplank]

don't lawyers usually work pro bono in malpractice suits?

I think it's on a contingency. Ie) if you win they take 33.3% of the proceeds and then they also deduct for any court costs, expert witnesses, etc etc.

 

[Cutiebolic]

Most of this has been said but I wouldn't worry too much about protecting the healthcare team that took care of your child. They have malpractice insurance for this reason.

If you feel like an injustice has occurred, meet with an attorney and discuss the case. The fee structures vary from firm to firm. You may find someone to work pro bono if they think you have a strong case.

Regardless, it may give you some peace to know one way or the other. Then you can fully focus on what lies ahead for your child.

Best of luck.

 

[PICK3]

Sorry, bro

best of luck on whatever you decide

 

[AFeedz]

Ahhh. That story made me want to cry.

Your doctor is fucking nuts, for one.

Unfortunately though, since your daughter is 4 it might be too late to sue him depending on the statute of limitations for medical malpractice in your state. If your state's malpractice limitation is longer than 4 years or has a clause that allows you to file longer for children though, then talk to a lawyer like everybody else has said.

You should've seen one sooner.

If its too late for you to sue though, in a non-slanderous way I'd publish your factual experience EVERYWHERE so that future mothers stay the fuck away from that dude.

 

[wootoom]

What a sad story bro......im sorry to hear all of this....i don't know what to say...we are here for you man...anything you need

 

[wootoom]

my opinion would be to leave it, and focus on your daughter. A long drawn out lawsuit could just cause more stress and grief for you and your lady.

+10000000000

 

[mrplunkey]

It is terribly sad to hear about your daughter. As a father of four (soon to be six), I can't imagine what you are going through. I wish her and your family nothing but the best.

Regarding your legal question, what intervention could they have done? If your daughter was already premature, a post-delivery CT or MRI might have been a good diagnostic tool but it doesn't jump out at me as to what they'd do differently if they had found damage.

Chris -- what could/should have been done differently?

 

[EarthRider]

i find it odd that they never told them about what happen at the time of birth. THey had to wait until later on to find out

 

[calveless wonder]

oh jeez bro...i had no idea it was that bad. i thought from you had posted in the past it was manageable and she only needed stuff like occupational therapy but otherwise she was g2g. i'm sorry.......

but like others said, is there really grounds for it? It's worth at least exploring options. as far as "you don't want a long drawn out legal process" blah blah blah...that's potentially a bunch of baloney. a lot of the time they settle if you have a strong case. whether you do or not that's what you need to determine.

it 's also really easy to say that it's not worth dealing with as an outsider when you're not the one actually dealing with the implications of this on a day to day basis. if you can make your life(and your daughter's) a little easier moving forward by not having to worry about the cost of addressing these things, you do it.

 

[ortiz34]

Exactly, I am NOT blaming them for the stroke, although it is possible seeing as the baby was under stress four days before they even operated, high heart rate, high blood pressure, wife showingnsymptoms of pre clampsia. The issue is how everything was handled and being left in the dark. If you are born not breathing, blue, and need to be revived it's medical 101 to perform a cat scan to check for possible brain damage due to lack of oxygen to the brain.
Let me ask you this, if your kid fell off a 19 ft wall and they never took rays, sent him/her home with a broken pelvis or something they'd be screwed. Someone didn't do their job IMO.
I did a little research yesterday on infant brain malpractice and read cases detail by detail. Many were so similar, other cases mine is much worse ( trust me, you guys got cliff cliff notes)
Most settlements in my area were in the 2-5 million range fwiw

Sent from my THRIVE tablet via tapatalk using EliteFitness

 

[mrplunkey]

Exactly, I am NOT blaming them for the stroke, although it is possible seeing as the baby was under stress four days before they even operated, high heart rate, high blood pressure, wife showingnsymptoms of pre clampsia. The issue is how everything was handled and being left in the dark. If you are born not breathing, blue, and need to be revived it's medical 101 to perform a cat scan to check for possible brain damage due to lack of oxygen to the brain.
Let me ask you this, if your kid fell off a 19 ft wall and they never took rays, sent him/her home with a broken pelvis or something they'd be screwed. Someone didn't do their job IMO.
I did a little research yesterday on infant brain malpractice and read cases detail by detail. Many were so similar, other cases mine is much worse ( trust me, you guys got cliff cliff notes)
Most settlements in my area were in the 2-5 million range fwiw

Sent from my THRIVE tablet via tapatalk using EliteFitness

The difference is a broken pelvis is treatable with definitive care.

And I'll freely admit that I'm not an MD/DO. But having said that, what would you do with a newborn child that might have brain damage? I'm not sure they can do much other than wait it out and hope the issue resolves.

Again, it's a terrible situation and I can't imagine what you are going through. And poor communication is definitely a horrible practice. The part I'm missing is what would have happened differently if they had performed a CT scan (or MRI... I'd guess it would be an MRI). If they were already implementing a protocol for premature birth, then I don't understand what additional imaging would achieve.

 

[TableFun]

Sounds like you need to consult with an actual attorney to determine if you have grounds for a case at all.

Where is snacky cakes?

 

[ortiz34]

http://www.lubinandmeyer.com/cases/caselist.html

Just some similar cases, many ten years after the fact. Most seem to settle out of court

 

[smurf2]

Btw, your daughter is super adorable. Can we at least get a pic?

 

[nangiggles]

Lawyer up, take the leap and meet with an attorney, have them explain your options.

 

[cindylou]

ortiz, I think it's sketchy that she showed signs of pre clampsia and they didn't want to take the baby right away or have her admitted to monitor the baby. My doctor would admit you right away if you had high blood pressure, basically he saw those readings past 35 weeks you were admitted to the hospital and probably looking at an induction or csection. Like, right away you were not even allowed to go home to get clothes...you pretty much were not leaving that hospital until you had that baby and you were probably having it w/in the next 24 hours.

I also think it's sketchy that they HID from you what happened to your daughter after the birth, your daughter was in teh hospital for that long after delivery and it was never mentioned to you? Abby's scores were discussed with me a couple hours after her birth. I don't know if there was anything they could have done after the birth, or medication they could have given her during those three months to help her brain, or deal with seizures as I'm guessing she gets now. She could have been in some sort of treatment, though. I'm not a doctor but I find it hard to believe being in the dark is better than knowing what's going on with your daughter. They knew, those nurses knew, why didn't anyone tell you?

I'm not big on suing people, generally in most situations I think it's wrong. However when it comes to your kiddos, we don't have that luxury, the world is a messy place...I would sue the pope if he lied to me about something that would potentially harm my daughter or keep me from treating her, or keeping me in the dark about something that happened to her. You had a right to know that right away.

Good luck ortiz, I hope you get whatever outcome will make you feel a little more at peace, if that's even possible.

 

[jackangel]

sorry 'tiz, that's some fucking bullshit. you'll know what you have to do, one way or another.