Obstetric negligence claims address breaches of the standard of care by obstetricians, family physicians providing obstetric care, midwives, and obstetric nursing staff during pregnancy, labour, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period. Common allegations include failure to interpret electronic fetal monitoring tracings, failure to recognize and respond to signs of fetal distress, failure to proceed to caesarean section in a timely way, improper use of forceps or vacuum, mismanagement of shoulder dystocia, failure to manage hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, and failures of communication between team members at handover.
The standard of care in obstetrics is among the most heavily litigated in medical malpractice. Each clinical decision in labour and delivery is made under time pressure, often with incomplete information and competing risks to mother and fetus. Expert evidence is critical, and the obstetric standard is usually informed by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) practice guidelines, although those guidelines function as background and not as substitutes for expert opinion in litigation.
Posts tagged Obstetric Negligence analyze Ontario decisions involving the conduct of obstetric and midwifery teams.
An Alberta court found that an urgent C-section taking 101 minutes fell below the standard of care, that two physicians’ combined 50 minutes of unnecessary delay was not a defensible judgment call, and that the delay caused a child’s cerebral palsy. A look at the timeliness standard, the causation reasoning, and why this Alberta decision is persuasive, not binding, in Ontario.
Dr. Bailey admitted that her management of labour was negligent and that it caused a hypoxic brain injury at birth. The plaintiffs still lost, because they could not prove that the brain injury caused the child’s lasting impairments. JB v Bailey is an Alberta decision, persuasive only in Ontario, but it is a clear reminder that admitted negligence and admitted injury are not the same as proven causation.
Ontario midwifery negligence case study: failure to escalate to obstetrical consultation, postpartum hemorrhage, emergency hysterectomy, infertility at 30.
Ontario court denies defendant doctors’ motion for in-home security camera recordings in catastrophic injury malpractice action. Privacy prevails over relevance.
A patient’s guide to midwifery malpractice in Ontario. Scope of practice, consultation duties, the liability framework, and the most common claim categories.
A proposed class action against the Moncton Hospital and a fired nurse over allegedly unprescribed oxytocin was denied certification because individual issues would predominate.
A BC trial judge found an obstetrician 85% liable and obstetrical nurses 15% liable for skull fractures and brain damage caused during a difficult caesarean section.
A trial judge found an obstetrician applied excessive traction during a shoulder dystocia, causing a permanent brachial plexus injury. Liability was established.
A family physician identified a high-risk twin pregnancy and started a referral letter that was never sent. The Alberta Court of King’s Bench found liability.
Ectopic pregnancy is a leading cause of first-trimester maternal death. When the diagnosis is delayed, the consequences can be catastrophic.
A jury verdict of $11.5 million for cerebral palsy, upheld at the Court of Appeal, following a community obstetrician’s failure to recognize and refer twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.
St. Catharines Standard coverage of the Court of Appeal’s July 2020 affirmance of the Woods v Jackiewicz jury verdict. Bill Sawchuk interviews Paul Cahill.
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