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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1

[Anonymous]

You only needs to convince 12 idiots. I am certain the jury wasn't chosen for their medical knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found this.

https://www.injurytriallawyer.com/blog/johns-hopkins-hospital-hit-with-28m-verdict-over-birth-injuries.cfm

Thanks for the link. Woow, so this is still on-going!?!

[Anonymous]

I've heard that every birth that goes wrong results in a med-mal suit, but they don't usually result in $28m verdicts.

Several pages up, someone posted some details including Apgar scores and labs. So close to my own baby but she recovered fully, unlike this one. So sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You only needs to convince 12 idiots. I am certain the jury wasn't chosen for their medical knowledge.

Actually the appeals court ruled that the judge was the idiot who screwed it up by not letting the jury know what happened before they arrived at the hospital. Here’s the thread on that: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/201980.page

[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.

She chose home birth and the hospital should not have had any responsibility for her stupidity. Maybe smarter women were ahead of her.

[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.

She chose home birth and the hospital should not have had any responsibility for her stupidity. Maybe smarter women were ahead of her.

Who didn’t rip out their IVs.

[Anonymous]

So, my HOSPITAL birth I waited for 3 hours for medical intervention after my baby’s HR crashed for 2.5 minutes. That’s after being induced a full 12 hours prior.
Hospitals suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hospitals sometimes punish women who are homebirth transfers. It's possible that this is what was happening in this case, which is why the jury awarded so much money. Typically if a woman (who as not intending to deliver at home) arrives at the hospital in an emergency situation, the hospital is able to perform a stat c/s. These things happen - a woman who had no prenatal care, a woman who has a premature baby delivering precipitously, etc, who are found to be in an emergency situation.

If you were birthing in the hospital, and it was decided that you needed a stat c/s, and they then took 2 hours to get you into the OR - wouldn't you be suing?

By the way, this midwife was licensed and 100% legal. She had labs, medical records and labor history immediately available. The severity of the situation can easily be relayed during the ambulance transfer. My guess is that there were egotistical doctors who either refused to listen, or who purposely tried to teach the midwife and/or parents a lesson. Thus the huge award.

For the doctors or other medical professionals who posted on this thread -- you come across as completely uneducated and ignorant. Have you never bothered to learn anything about homebirth? For starters, it is proven to be as safe as hospital birth. And, it is completely legal, and the midwives have extensive medical training.

A certified midwife in my town died giving birth to her own child in a midwife center. The delivery was going south and the midwife did not want to go to the hospital so transfer to the hospital was significantly delayed. The baby survived, it's mother did not.

[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?!?!?

Sorry. No. Her midwife was responsible and sent her to the hospital the minute the birth was no longer a safe. If you arrive in an ambulance, the hospital needs to be able offer you care, otherwise what’s the point?

I’ve had all my children in a hospital (as planned) and I think if they couldn’t offer emergency care including emergency C-section surgery they gave no business calling themselves a level 1 trauma center.

BTW even if you plan to give birth in a hospital a very uncomplicated natural birth can turn into an emergency very quickly. I would be very upset if the hospital made me wait 2 hours for an emergency C-section.

[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?!?!?

Sorry. No. Her midwife was responsible and sent her to the hospital the minute the birth was no longer a safe. If you arrive in an ambulance, the hospital needs to be able offer you care, otherwise what’s the point?

I’ve had all my children in a hospital (as planned) and I think if they couldn’t offer emergency care including emergency C-section surgery they gave no business calling themselves a level 1 trauma center.

BTW even if you plan to give birth in a hospital a very uncomplicated natural birth can turn into an emergency very quickly. I would be very upset if the hospital made me wait 2 hours for an emergency C-section.

The hospital is saying that, when she arrived, it didn't seem emergent. And that the birth injury had already occurred before she arrived at the hospital.

Whether she had waited 5 minutes or 2 hours for the c-section, the hospital is saying it would not have mattered. The first trial did not address the question. The second trial may.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hospitals sometimes punish women who are homebirth transfers. It's possible that this is what was happening in this case, which is why the jury awarded so much money. Typically if a woman (who as not intending to deliver at home) arrives at the hospital in an emergency situation, the hospital is able to perform a stat c/s. These things happen - a woman who had no prenatal care, a woman who has a premature baby delivering precipitously, etc, who are found to be in an emergency situation.

If you were birthing in the hospital, and it was decided that you needed a stat c/s, and they then took 2 hours to get you into the OR - wouldn't you be suing?

By the way, this midwife was licensed and 100% legal. She had labs, medical records and labor history immediately available. The severity of the situation can easily be relayed during the ambulance transfer. My guess is that there were egotistical doctors who either refused to listen, or who purposely tried to teach the midwife and/or parents a lesson. Thus the huge award.

For the doctors or other medical professionals who posted on this thread -- you come across as completely uneducated and ignorant. Have you never bothered to learn anything about homebirth? For starters, it is proven to be as safe as hospital birth. And, it is completely legal, and the midwives have extensive medical training.

A certified midwife in my town died giving birth to her own child in a midwife center. The delivery was going south and the midwife did not want to go to the hospital so transfer to the hospital was significantly delayed. The baby survived, it's mother did not.

There’s also the story about the nurse (married to a doctor) who died giving birth in a hospital. She tried to tell them something was wrong but nobody listened... She was a neonatal nurse and she died in the same hospital where she worked.

https://www.propublica.org/article/die-in-childbirth-maternal-death-rate-health-care-system

Then there are all the statistics about how black and Latino mother’s consistently get treated poorly and experience worse outcomes. Lots of bad outcomes at hospitals...

[Anonymous]

Google the name of the midwife involved—Evelyn Muhlhan—and see what you get.

The woman is a butcher.

[Anonymous]

As a French woman, I am continually amazed at the poor quality of care Americans receive surrounding childbirth. It's incredible. I nearly lost my life in a US hospital after my second child's birth. My husband is trained as a doctor, ran to get people, and told the nurse what to do.

And for all that, healthcare is SO EXPENSIVE here!

American citizens really need to vote to change healthcare in this country. The richest country in the world can afford something better!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Google the name of the midwife involved—Evelyn Muhlhan—and see what you get.

The woman is a butcher.

Yep here’s another of her patients, whose baby died.
http://creativlei.com/mirandas-life-and-loss/homebirth/