The Case Of Enso Martinez And Rebecca Fielding Against John Hopkins Hospital

Medical malpractice cases are difficult for the families who have lost their loved one or have suffered from severe injuries. No one truly wins in complicated court hearings that consist of a team of litigation attorneys for both the defendant and plaintiff(s). During the trial, evidence supporting malpractice allegations have to be presented so that the court can make a decision if the physician was negligent resulting in malpractice, or if the injury was unavoidable due to the circumstances. In these types of tort cases, the physician is usually a defendant on trial trying to prove that he or she is innocent of the medical error, delay of treatment or procedure that caused the injury. The perfect example of being at fault for medical malpractice

In this situation, Ms. Fielding was taken to the hospital for an emergency caesarean section. Granted the story does mention if Ms. Fielding initially wanted to deliver her baby at home, but the story never mentioned the reason for the patient being transported to the hospital. Hypothetically, if the patient was already in labor at home, could the lack of oxygen to the brain begin while she was at home? The story does not mention how long the patient was in labor at home. Obviously the Hospital was found negligent in this case due to the amount of time that the patient waited to deliver the baby. Not only are hospitals required to care for emergency patients, but they are required to do so in a timely fashion (Pozgar, 2012, p.254). The delayed delivery is the main reason Ms. Field’s was awarded a substantial restitution of $55 million dollars for future medical care of her mentally and physically disabled

The record contained sufficient proof of causation to support a verdict in favor of the plaintiff when an expert obstetrician testified that both obstetricians were negligent in failing to perform a cesarean section at an earlier time, which the hospital staff departed from proper medical standards of care by not monitoring the fetal heartbeat at least every 15 minutes, and that, with a reasonable degree of medical certainty it was probable that the fetus suffered hypoxia during labor (p. 207).
Ultimately there are many factors that contribute to medical malpractice cases in the United States. Most tort cases are lengthy with very costly litigation expenses. In both cases mentioned in this essay, the physicians failed to provide C-sections in a timely manner, which the detrimental decision to delay delivery caused permanent injuries to unborn babies. However, a lump-sum settlement award may have compensated the damages, but money does not and can never replace the pain and suffering that both families endured as a result of what the damages that medical malpractice has caused to these children. You cannot put monetary value on human life. Living a healthy and disable free life