Many women give birth via C-section. When it happens, it sometimes goes off without a hitch. However, every once in a while, something goes wrong.
Since 32% of live births come by C-section, if you’re pregnant, you should know about this procedure and what it entails. You should also know about medical malpractice cases that can arise if a doctor makes a serious mistake while trying to help a woman have a C-section. We’ll discuss such cases in detail now.
What Does the Term “C-Section” Mean?
The term C-section refers to a way of giving birth. It’s short for Cesarian section. When a woman requests this procedure, or when a doctor decides it’s the best idea, they make an incision in the woman’s abdomen and uterus.
The doctor then removes the baby through that incision. Once the doctor has removed the baby, they will stitch up the incision.
The doctor will administer anesthesia before they do the procedure. They will usually use an epidural or spinal block. This numbs the lower body. In many cases, though, the woman remains conscious during the procedure.
A doctor and the pregnant woman might plan out a C-section birth before the day arrives in some instances. However, C-sections also happen if the doctor feels there’s a threat to the woman or child’s life or health.
In most instances, the doctor and mother agree to a C-section if a vaginal birth entails more risk than what’s normally the case. The emergency C-section usually becomes an option if problems come up during labor.
Do C-Sections Come with More Risks Than Vaginal Births?
The medical profession feels that C-sections have progressed to where they’re not inherently risky. That doesn’t mean they involve no danger, though.
A C-section falls into the category of a major surgery. The mother must contend with blood loss. They must think about possible injury to internal organs. An infection can always happen as well. The Postpartum Belly Support Belt can aid in the recovery process by providing gentle compression and support to the abdominal area, helping mothers heal faster after their surgery.
Hospitals where these procedures normally happen follow certain protocols to make the surgery as straightforward and controlled as possible. Still, the unexpected can occur, and C-section births do come with slightly more risks than vaginal ones.
What About Medical Malpractice That Occurs During C-Sections?
As for medical malpractice, this term applies when you have a doctor or some other medical professional who does something wrong. A patient might sue a doctor, nurse, or someone else in the medical field if they don't follow the established standard of care as recognized by the medical community.
With a C-section, even though there’s risk involved, doctors have done this procedure enough times so that there’s an established set of actions comprising a normal or conventional C-section. If the mother or child dies, or if either one suffers an injury during a C-section, then the doctor might feel they did all they could to prevent it.
However, you might also have a situation sometimes where the doctor does something that’s obviously incorrect according to the established best practices related to these surgeries. If that happens, the mother, assuming she survives, might sue that doctor. She may also sue other individuals in the medical profession who saw to her care if they did something wrong that harmed her or her child.
What Happens When a Patient or Family Member Sues Following a C-Section?
If a patient decides that she will sue the doctor who performed the operation following a C-section, then she will hire a personal injury lawyer who takes on these kinds of cases. Certain personal injury lawyers handle medical malpractice lawsuits, and they might have a history of involving themselves in C-section ones in particular.
While a patient who feels a doctor harmed her or her child can certainly sue after a C-section if something went wrong, she probably won’t win her case unless she and her lawyer can prove that the doctor didn’t provide the proper standard of care. That concept can seem rather nebulous sometimes.
The lawyer might require that an expert witness take the stand to talk about what should and shouldn’t happen during a conventional C-section surgery. If the expert witness can point to obvious mistakes the doctor made that injured or killed the patient or her child, then the plaintiff will probably win their case. In situations where the mother died during or after a C-section, her family might file a lawsuit on her behalf.
These situations, while tragic, sometimes require lawsuits if a doctor did something egregiously wrong.
