$1,125,000 Settlement – Death of Woman Following Delivery due to DIC

How could a woman deliver a healthy baby in a major hospital and then bleed to death right in front of a team of health care providers?  It’s one of the most curious and saddest cases we have ever seen.

John Leighton has developed a national reputation for handling some of the most complex and tragic medical malpractice cases.  Few are more tragic than the case of L.A.

Happily married and the mother of two healthy children, L.A. went to her obstetrician’s office as she neared the end of her pregnancy.  The doctor admitted her to the hospital for delivery.  Along with the help of her husband, she began to deliver this baby.  During the course of the delivery, either by the doctor’s use of an instrument or by some other cause, L.A. suffered a laceration of her uterus.

After delivery of a beautiful and healthy baby, L.A. began to bleed more profusely.   Despite the nurses bringing this to the attention of the treating obstetrician, he left the hospital and returned to his office (which was across the street from the hospital).

The bleeding continued and worsened.  The doctor did not return despite several calls from the nurses.  He did not request that another doctor see L.A. to find the source of the bleeding. He just ordered fundal massage to try to reduce the bleeding. As the bleeding worsened, L.A.’s condition deteriorated. She developed a very serious blood clotting disorder known as disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC). This is what causes death from serious bleeding (when someone says “bled to death” it was usually DIC that caused the death). Because of the massive blood loss, the body stops producing clotting factor and the remaining blood – including new blood transfused – often fails to clot. Blood can continue to be given but it will just continue the bleeding.

Despite pleas from the nurses to the obstetrician, he never returned to care for L.A.  Her DIC worsened. Even though the doctor ordered blood for her, she simply bled out.  In one of the worst tragedies ever, L.A. died of blood loss in the labor and delivery unit of a major regional hospital and trauma center.  Her newborn daughter would never know her mother.

Attorney John Elliott Leighton represented the husband and children of L.A., alleging that she was killed because of medical malpractice following delivery of her healthy newborn baby.

Mr. Leighton obtained payment of the full policy limits of all of the responsible health care providers of $1,125,000. Estate of L.A. v. WS.

 

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