What do you think of the $55 million settlement in the Johns Hopkins malpractice case?

[Anonymous]

The family chose to do a home birth and the hospital gets sued for a 2 hour delay???

BALTIMORE (WMAR) - A Baltimore City jury has come back with a verdict making Johns Hopkins Hospital responsible for a $55 million payment in a medical malpractice birth injury case.

More than two years ago, Enso Martinez and his wife Rebecca Fielding were at home with a midwife in labor with their son, but felt they needed to go to the hospital.

Rebecca was taken to Johns Hopkins in an ambulance. She says she was expecting an emergency c-section, but that didn't happen. After more than two hours at the hospital, her son was born, but with a birth defect. This is why our health costs are skyrocketing.

Now a jury decided the family should be compensated for that defect by the hospital.

"I don't know what was going on in their brains and I don't know what was going on behind the scenes, I don't know what was going on with other patients, but whatever it is that went wrong internally or in their minds, I hope that it was at least a wakeup call or a learning experience and that it doesn't happen again," said Rebecca.

Fot their part, Johns Hopkins Medicine's Director of Media Relations and Public Affairs says they sympathize with Fielding's situation, but they're stunned the jury found for the plaintiff.

In a statement Hopkins says the "strongly deny the allegations in Miss Fielding's complaining, and continue to firmly believe that the medical care provided to Miss Fielding by Hopkins was entirely appropriate given the circumstances and that the standard of care was adhered to in her case. Given our firm belief in this regard, we will appeal the jury's verdict at the Maryland appellate court."

Read more: http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/region/baltimore_city/55-million-settlement-in-hopkins-case#ixzz1z8zK15a5

[Anonymous]

What does the home birth have to do with the hospital waiting 2 hrs to give her the c-section? Two totally different things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does the home birth have to do with the hospital waiting 2 hrs to give her the c-section? Two totally different things.

this.

and oh, this is in the wrong forum btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does the home birth have to do with the hospital waiting 2 hrs to give her the c-section? Two totally different things.

If she was in the hospital in the first place, the operating room could have been prepped faster. The staff would have been ready for her.

You take these risks when you attempt home birth. Why would anyone want to do a home birth?!?!?

[Anonymous]

This verdict will be reversed on appeal and these greedy parents will get nothing which is what they deserve

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does the home birth have to do with the hospital waiting 2 hrs to give her the c-section? Two totally different things.

I don't know enough about the case to weigh in, but I agree that these things are separate. Obviously. You don't give up your rights to be treated when you go to a hospital because you didn't have a hospital birth. Whether or not you THINK someone should...it doesn't work that way. An emergency is an emergency.

[Anonymous]

I really don't have an opinion as to whether the hospital was at fault and as to whether some verdict in favor of plaintiffs was warranted. But I have to say, I am horrified by the sheer magnitude of the award. That far exceeds the amount that would be required to care for even a very severely disabled child. Since the child was a baby, it would be hard to tell what lost wages would be, but I imagine that the punitive damages component must be enormous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the home birth have to do with the hospital waiting 2 hrs to give her the c-section? Two totally different things.

this.

and oh, this is in the wrong forum btw.

why?

I don't see how it's really a perfect match with the health forum - if that's the one you were thinking of. Or was it the political forum? still not a match

[Anonymous]

an OR can be prepped in 10 minutes folks...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the home birth have to do with the hospital waiting 2 hrs to give her the c-section? Two totally different things.

If she was in the hospital in the first place, the operating room could have been prepped faster. The staff would have been ready for her.

You take these risks when you attempt home birth. Why would anyone want to do a home birth?!?!?

Are you an idiot, or just willfully stupid for the purposes of playing devil's advocate?

If she took an AMBULANCE I'm pretty sure the hospital was aware of her impending arrival and could have prepped the OR.

Or do you think the hospital needs a few hours' notice? That would make treating strokes, heart attacks, and other emergencies pretty fun.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps she requested that they attempt a vaginal birth, so they waited. I can't imagine she really liked the idea of a c- section if she was attempting a home birth. If they'd done a c-section, perhaps they would have sued claiming it was unnecessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the home birth have to do with the hospital waiting 2 hrs to give her the c-section? Two totally different things.

this.

and oh, this is in the wrong forum btw.

why?

I don't see how it's really a perfect match with the health forum - if that's the one you were thinking of. Or was it the political forum? still not a match

(it was originally in the general parenting forum)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the home birth have to do with the hospital waiting 2 hrs to give her the c-section? Two totally different things.

If she was in the hospital in the first place, the operating room could have been prepped faster. The staff would have been ready for her.

You take these risks when you attempt home birth. Why would anyone want to do a home birth?!?!?

Are you an idiot, or just willfully stupid for the purposes of playing devil's advocate?

If she took an AMBULANCE I'm pretty sure the hospital was aware of her impending arrival and could have prepped the OR.

Or do you think the hospital needs a few hours' notice? That would make treating strokes, heart attacks, and other emergencies pretty fun.

DH is a surgeon. He isn't obgyn but if often takes hours for his operations to get started. I am actually very familiar with hospitals and specifically JHU.

This is why no one wants to go into obgyn anymore. Not one of his peers went into obgyn. You have awful hours, have ridiculously high malpractice insurance and get paid relatively low compared to other specialties. Many obgyn doctors are foreign medical grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the home birth have to do with the hospital waiting 2 hrs to give her the c-section? Two totally different things.

If she was in the hospital in the first place, the operating room could have been prepped faster. The staff would have been ready for her.

You take these risks when you attempt home birth. Why would anyone want to do a home birth?!?!?

Remind me to make sure to have my car accident or heart attack at a hospital next time; after all, if they wait to treat me, it's my fault for not being there in the first place.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why homebirthers want no medical intervention (hence doing it at home) but if the sh*t hits the fan, they expect the medical establishment to shoulder the responsibilty. They decided not to participate in modern medicine. I understand the history of obs v. midwives but it seems odd to me.