Maryland Shoulder Dystocia Lawyers Seminar
The Maryland Trial Lawyers Association's Medical Negligence Section is having a dinner/seminar on Thursday, November 30, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. at That’s Amore Restaurant in Columbia, Maryland. The topic: Shoulder Dystocia-Case Evaluation and Risk Management Issues: A View from the Inside with an Interactive Demonstration. The speakers are:
Dr. Jonathan Hodor, OB/GYN, will be speaking on shoulder dystocia and hospital risk management issues within the context of shoulder dystocia cases. He will discuss charting, review of records, what to look for in a shoulder dystocia case and how to evaluate records. Dr. Hodor will also demonstrate the mechanics of shoulder dystocia maneuvers which must be followed to meet the standard of care. Finally, he will discuss how to evaluate operative notes in shoulder dystocia cases, and what key elements should be contained in those operative notes.
Catherine Bertram, Esq. is a former risk manager at Georgetown University Hospital and she will address risk management issues. She will discuss how the risk manager assesses shoulder dystocia cases, how to bring volatility to your case, how to make a case that will force the risk manager to fully appreciate the merits of your case, and how hospitals review and evaluate cases. She will also provide insight on how hospitals train their medical doctors with respect to risk management issues.
Shoulder dystocia and brachial plexus injuries are obstetrical complications that occurs in 0.5% to 1.5% of all births. Shoulder dystocia stems from complications during delivery where the infant's head is able to clear but one shoulder of the baby becomes trapped behind the mother's pelvis during delivery. When this happens, additional medical maneuvers are required to properly deliver the infant.
Thankfully, most shoulder dystocia cases do not result in permanent injury. In the unfortunate minority of shoulder dystocia cases where there is a permanent injury, not all are medical malpractice cases. This seminar should give the Maryland medical malpractice lawyer a good idea of whether you have a shoulder dystocia case and what challenges the attorney will face in prosecuting such a claim.
Comments
This was an excellent seminar; not to mention it was held just one block from my office!
The information conveyed was very helpful for lawyers advocating for medical malpractice victims and the most vulnerable of those victims, infants at the time they are born.
I am not sure if your new babies were C-section or not but I recall when we had our daughter March 2005, the OB treating my wife seemed almost insistent that a C-section versus vaginal delivery be done. Fortunately for us we preferred a C-section, but I definitely got the sense that "liability" was a concern at the office treating my wife. Not to mention they had misguided literature in their office regarding the "medical malpractice crisis" and seemingly blaming injured victims with no mention of the insurers that not only make most the rules but manipulate them to their advantage.
Posted by: Gabriel A. Riveros, Attorney | December 1, 2006 8:28 PM
Can you imagine having in your office as a lawyer literature on a "legal malpractice insurance" crisis? It seems like the craziest possible thing. It is like an alert "I might commmit malpractice, buyer beware!" Utterly insane. I can't see how doctors can defend doing that.
Posted by: Ron Miller | December 4, 2006 12:41 PM