Birth Injuries Attorney in San Francisco, California
What is your approach to handling birth injury cases?
What is your approach to handling birth injury cases?
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In birth injury cases, the firm often deals with what are known as “strip cases,” where fetal heart tracings and their interpretation are key issues. There are other cases where signs and symptoms of problems are not reflected in the fetal heart tracings but still indicate potential complications.
The firm’s focus in these cases is to determine whether it is a strip case. If a problem is identified on the fetal heart tracing, the next question is whether the nurses and staff monitoring the tracing recognized signs of fetal distress. If they did, the next issue is whether they appropriately and timely called for a physician’s assistance.
There are often situations where nurses identify problems on the tracings correctly and call for help, but the physician either fails to respond in a timely manner or makes a poor medical judgment on how to treat the patient. Birth injury cases often involve many moving parts, as different aspects of the care process can contribute to the outcome.
San Francisco, CA medical malpractice attorney Jeff Mitchell discusses his approach to handling birth injury cases. In cases related to birth injuries, there are distinct categories to consider. One category, commonly referred to as “strip cases,” revolves around issues concerning the interpretation of fetal heart tracings. However, there are also cases where signs and symptoms of other problems may not be evident on the fetal heart tracings.
In birth injury cases, the key determination is whether it falls into the “strip case” category. This often hinges on whether any problems were identified in the fetal heart tracings and whether the healthcare professionals, including nurses and monitor observers, recognized any evidence of fetal distress. If such evidence was observed, the crucial follow-up question is whether they appropriately and promptly notified a physician.
It’s important to note that in some instances, nurses may correctly and promptly identify issues in the tracings and promptly involve a physician. However, challenges may arise if the physician’s response is delayed or if their medical judgment in addressing the situation is suboptimal.
Birth injury cases are complex, with multiple variables and factors at play, making the evaluation and handling of such cases multifaceted.
