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.
St. Catharines Standard coverage of the April 2019 jury verdict in Woods v Jackiewicz, an $11.5 million obstetric negligence verdict for cerebral palsy.
Paul Cahill won an $11.5 million jury verdict against an obstetrician whose failure to refer to a perinatologist caused a catastrophic cerebral palsy birth injury.
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