OB-GYN Malpractice Lawyer
When an OB-GYN fails to provide the required standard of care during pregnancy or childbirth, the patient or her child may suffer harm. This failure to meet the duty of care could be grounds for a medical malpractice claim. The OB-GYN malpractice lawyers at Freedland Harwin Valori Gander can help your family recover compensation if an error by an obstetrician or gynecologist harms you or your child.
Written and edited by our team of expert legal content writers and reviewed and approved by Daniel Harwin
- Content last updated on:
- November 18, 2024
Obstetricians and gynecologists owe professional duties of care to women during pregnancy and childbirth. Their primary responsibilities are to examine women, diagnose problems, assist with delivery, and treat illnesses, infections, or diseases that could affect the mother or child.
If an obstetrician is negligent and makes an error harming the patient or her baby, the obstetrician may be liable for medical malpractice. Freedland Harwin Valori Gander is dedicated to exposing obstetrical errors and seeking compensation for affected families in Florida. If you or your child suffered harm from an obstetrician’s negligence, our OB-GYN malpractice lawyers can guide you through your legal options and help you navigate each step of your medical malpractice claim.
Role of a Florida OB-GYN Malpractice Lawyer
Obstetrics—the branch of medicine that focuses on pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum—is a highly complex field. No two pregnancies or births are exactly alike, and some complications are simply unavoidable. However, in many cases, the mother’s health care provider could have prevented complications from arising or progressing if they had taken reasonable measures.
The nuanced nature of obstetrician malpractice cases means that a great deal of resources may be required to determine whether an obstetrician acted negligently. OB-GYNs usually have powerful malpractice insurance companies and seasoned attorneys representing their interests, and these companies are quick to deny or minimize claims. This is where a Florida OB-GYN malpractice lawyer comes in.
If you have an OB-GYN malpractice claim, a lawyer from Freedland Harwin Valori Gander can take all the work off your shoulders so you can focus on healing. We’ll investigate and comb through your medical records, financial records, and other forms of evidence to build your claim.
Freedland Harwin Valori Gander also has an extensive network of medical experts. Our team can use expert testimony to show how your obstetrician’s actions deviated from the standard of care and how they caused harm to you or your baby.
Once we have this evidence, we’ll present it to the physician’s insurance company along with a settlement amount based on what we think your OB-GYN lawsuit is worth. We’ll negotiate with the insurance company to reach an out-of-court settlement agreement. We won’t back down against the insurer’s tactics, and we’re prepared to take your case to trial if necessary to get you the compensation you deserve.
In some cases, we may need to explore other avenues for compensation aside from a medical malpractice claim. For example, if your malpractice case involves certain types of birth injuries to your child’s brain or spinal cord, you might be required to pursue compensation through the Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Plan, or NICA. If you are ineligible to file a traditional malpractice claim, our attorneys could help you seek NICA benefits instead. In certain circumstances, the benefits provided by NICA are not adequate to provide for a family with a brain injury and we have handled numerous cases where we were able to get around NICA immunity and obtain just compensation.
Why Choose the Obstetrical Attorneys at Freedland Harwin Valori Gander?
Freedland Harwin Valori Gander is a leading South Florida medical malpractice law firm that has protected the rights of malpractice victims nationwide for over 20 years. In that time, we’ve recovered over $2.6 billion in verdicts and settlements for our deserving clients—many harmed by obstetrical negligence.
Some of our most noteworthy OB-GYN malpractice case results include the following:
- $24.5 million jury verdict for the family of a 34-year-old woman who bled to death during childbirth after her doctors failed to follow proper safety protocols
- $15.2 million arbitration award for a woman who suffered a stroke following childbirth and remains in a minimally conscious state
- $10 million settlement for a child who suffered a brain injury from oxygen deprivation during birth due to the failure of nurses and physicians to respond to fetal distress
- $4.1 million settlement for the family of a woman who died after giving birth from a hypertensive crisis that her providers failed to treat appropriately
Pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period are extremely vulnerable periods for women and their babies, and we understand the gravity of the situation when medical negligence comes into play. Our Florida OB-GYN negligence attorneys take a compassionate and professional approach to these cases. When you turn to our firm, you’ll receive personal attention from a team dedicated to answering your questions and treating you like family every step of the way.
Is There a Time Limit to Sue Your OB-GYN?
If you believe you may have a malpractice claim against an OB-GYN, time is of the essence. Florida has a strict deadline for medical malpractice claims, known as the statute of limitations. If you don’t take action before this deadline, you could lose your right to seek compensation.
Under Florida Statutes § 95.11, the statute of limitations for most medical malpractice claims is two years. The countdown starts on the date the malpractice occurred or the date you should have reasonably discovered your injury’s connection to medical negligence. If the negligence was covered up, you may have two years after the discovery of negligence. There are a few exceptions to this statute of limitations that a Florida OB-GYN negligence attorney will help you decipher.
Obstetrical malpractice cases involving injury to a minor, such as birth trauma, sometimes have a different time limit. If your baby suffered harm due to an OB-GYN’s negligence, you could be eligible to file a medical malpractice claim on their behalf any time before your child’s eighth birthday. However, this extension only applies if you could not have reasonably discovered your child’s injury and its connection to malpractice during pregnancy or childbirth before the standard malpractice deadline.
Types of Obstetrical Malpractice
Obstetrical malpractice occurs when an OB-GYN fails to provide the standard of care according to their patient’s unique risk factors, test results, or symptoms, resulting in injury or death to the patient or her baby. This broad definition means that obstetrical malpractice can occur in numerous ways. Our OB-GYN malpractice lawyers might be able to help you file a claim if an OB-GYN’s negligence resulted in any of the following consequences.
Maternal Death
Maternal fatalities can happen for several reasons, but proper medical care before, during, and after childbirth significantly decreases the risk of death. The competence of the obstetrician in caring for the mother through all stages of pregnancy and delivery can be a factor in whether or not the mother survives. Although doctors cannot always prevent death, they must take as many measures as reasonably possible within the accepted standards of the medical industry.
The most common causes of maternal death during childbirth, accounting for the majority of cases worldwide, include the following:
- Severe bleeding after childbirth
- Infections after childbirth
- High blood pressure during pregnancy
- Delivery complications
Nurses and obstetricians have a duty to care for mothers at all times properly. This duty includes doing regular checkups and blood tests during pregnancy, gestational diabetes screening, reviewing the mother’s medical history, and checking for any possible risk factors affecting pregnancy. When a failure to adhere to the prevailing standard of care for OB-GYNs results in an injury, the victim may have grounds for a civil claim against the doctor or hospital.
Bleeding Complications
Bleeding complications are common during and after childbirth. Excessive bleeding, usually after childbirth, can happen if the uterus does not contract enough to compress the bleeding in the area where the placenta was attached. Vessels can instead bleed freely, leading to hemorrhaging. Failure to predict, detect, and treat bleeding complications in the mother during childbirth can result in maternal death.
Placenta Accreta
Placenta accreta is a serious complication of pregnancy that can happen if the blood vessels embed into the uterine wall. In normal pregnancies, the placenta will detach from the uterine wall once the child is born. In cases of placenta accreta, this doesn’t happen. Instead, the placenta remains attached, potentially causing severe hemorrhaging after delivery.
Although placenta accreta doesn’t typically show signs during pregnancy, OBGYNs can detect it using routine ultrasounds. If a physician notices signs of placenta accreta during childbirth, they must order an emergency C-section. Failure to do so puts the mother at risk of bleeding out.
Due to the significant risks associated with placenta accreta, there are numerous protocols both before and during the delivery to ensure the safety of the mother and the baby. We have obtained a verdict of 24.5 million dollars in a case where a young mother was diagnosed with placenta accreta early in the pregnancy and the obstetricians and maternal-fetal medicine physicians did not put the appropriate safety protocols in place and she bled to death immediately after the baby was born.
Placental Abruption
In cases of abruptio placentae, or placental abruption, the placenta detaches partially or totally from the uterus before childbirth. Placental abruption can block the fetus’s supply of nutrients and oxygen and cause heavy maternal bleeding. This medical emergency can threaten the lives of the mother and baby if a physician doesn’t act quickly.
Uterine Rupture
Uterine rupture is a serious condition in which the contents of the uterus spill into the peritoneal cavity. It most often occurs during labor. This issue calls for immediate medical attention, or the mother and baby can be in grave danger.
We have significant experience handling cases involving a uterine rupture, including a confidential settlement on behalf of a young mother who presented with a uterine rupture that was not timely diagnosed by the hospital that led to her needing a hysterectomy. Due to the recovery obtained by our attorneys, this mother was able to afford a surrogate and have a baby when she thought that would never be possible. Due to the cases we have brought and successful investigations in maternal care, some hospitals have even changed their labor and delivery policies and procedures.
Preeclampsia
Preeclampsia is a condition that involves high blood pressure after the 20th week of pregnancy and the presence of protein in the urine. Gestational hypertension, or pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, is usually the early sign of what can turn into preeclampsia.
First-time mothers, those with hypertension before pregnancy, and women with histories of preeclampsia in their families are most at risk of this condition. An OB-GYN has a duty to diagnose preeclampsia, including recognizing signs like high blood pressure, headaches, blurred vision, protein in the urine, water retention, nausea/vomiting, and shortness of breath.
Treatment for preeclampsia can include bed rest, lower consumption of salt, and drinking more water each day. A doctor may also order increased fetal monitoring. Failure to treat preeclampsia early and properly can cause failure of organs such as the liver, heart, or renal failure. It can also turn into eclampsia, which can cause seizures and death. If preeclampsia cuts off the blood supply to the placenta, it can also result in a lack of oxygen to the fetus and low birth weight. Failure to treat preeclampsia can ultimately lead to the death of the mother or baby or even result in stillbirth.
Contact Our OB-GYN Negligence Attorneys for a Free Case Evaluation
If you suspect that you or your child has suffered harm from OB-GYN malpractice, you can rely on Freedland Harwin Valori Gander’s commitment to justice and compassionate representation.
We encourage you to report your concerns to the Florida Department of Health and contact us for a free consultation. Our OB-GYN malpractice lawyers work on a contingency basis, meaning there are no out-of-pocket costs for you to pursue your case.
Let us put our 20+ years of experience to work for you. Call (954) 280-8593 or fill out our form online for a free consultation anytime, anywhere.
free consultation anytime, anywhere.
ALL FIELDS REQUIRED
- ANESTHESIA & PACU ERRORS
- BIRTH TRAUMA
- EMERGENCY ROOM MISTAKES
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE OR MISDIAGNOSIS – CANCER
- FAILURE OR DELAY IN DIAGNOSIS OF SEPSIS
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE AND TREAT GESTATIONAL DIABETES
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE BREAST CANCER
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE HEART ATTACK
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE OR TREAT AORTIC DISSECTION
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE PNEUMONIA
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE PULMONARY EMBOLISM
- FAILURE TO TREAT STROKE
- HOSPITAL MALPRACTICE
- INTRAVENOUS INFILTRATION
- MEDICATION ERRORS
- MEDICATION OVERDOSE
- MISDIAGNOSIS
- NEGLIGENT FETAL MONITORING
- OB/GYN ERRORS
- PLASTIC SURGERY ERRORS
- PREOPERATIVE CLEARANCE ERROR
- RADIOLOGY ERRORS
- SPINE SURGERY MISTAKES
- STILLBIRTH & MISCARRIAGE MALPRACTICE
- SURGERY CENTER ERRORS
- SURGICAL ERRORS
- TYPES OF MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWSUITS
CASE RESULTS
TESTIMONIALS
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