New York City has already spent over $134 million in 2012 dealing with fallout from medical mistakes. Sadly, many of these mistakes involved childbirth, often with permanently debilitating (and perfectly avoidable) consequences for the children.
Take, for example, the case of Deidre Thompson. When she was having difficulties in labor, her doctor ordered a drug to help her with contractions. Then, he didn’t see her for nearly three hours!
The end result was that her newborn’s heart rate varied wildly, and child didn’t get all of the oxygen to the brain that he needed.
Perhaps more telling is that, instead of simply administering a C-section, the medical team pushed on Thompson’s stomach instead!
He son Sebastian was born with a high heart rate (200 beats per minute!) and could not breathe on his own. He was also diagnosed with a skull fracture and bleeding of the brain.
Sebastian is now considered disabled, and has problems walking and speaking-two of the most basic tasks for any human being. While the $5.3 million dollar settlement may cover his lifetime of needed care (half of it has been put in a care fund), it cannot currently give him back the ability to walk and speak without difficulty.
How could the New York City public hospital system help everyone-including itself? It could start by reviewing its standard procedures to make sure they are solid. As well, it would perhaps benefit from a program that makes sure all doctors, nurse, and staffs follow those procedures.
This could help taxpayers avoid future costs, and help the hospital avoid medical error. Most importantly, this would help keep the NYC hospital system from turning ordinary patients into victims.
If you’re a victim, you can make a difference in the lives of others by speaking up. The best way for you to have a voice is to seek the help from a medical malpractice lawyer.
Quite often, medical malpractice attorneys can serve as the voice of the victim, to ensure that justice is done. Too few victims ever stand up for themselves-and in doing so, they let down fellow and future victims. You can help doctors to become more cautious when it comes to the lives of newborns and the lives of others, if they know that victims are more likely to speak out in cases of malpractice.