Re: Grounds to sue? If so, sue who?

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On 6/20/06, Carol wrote:
> On 6/19/06, Mike wrote:
>> My wife gave birth to our second child three months ago
>> and is still suffering from urinary incontinence, which is
>> not uncommon, however the cause for her particular case of
>> incontinence is not normal and I believe it was negligence
>> on the part of the hospital staff/ navy doctor. Here's our
>> situation. I am active-duty military so the delivery was
>> performed by a navy doctor. The nurses and midwives on
>> staff are all civilian. During inactive labor, my wife
>> opted for an epidural and was subsequently given a
>> catheter. The catheter consists of a ping-pong ball
>> sized "balloon" which is normally inflated when inside the
>> bladder and deflated before being removed. As the baby's
>> head began to move down the birth canal the balloon was
>> still inflated, forcing the catheter balloon through here
>> urethra. This led to tearing and persisting incontinence.
>> The balloon should have been deflated prior to the baby's
>> head even coming close to it (which is standard procedure
>> I believe). She has been seen multiple times since and the
>> problem is getting no better. This is taking its toll on
>> our lives in ways I do not have time to describe here and
>> now. My question, do we have a case? In what direction
>> should I look to learn more about the proper steps to take
>> from here? Thank you.
> You should talk to an attorney who does med-mal. If they
> don't think you have a case, I suggest talking to one more.
> If you look hard enough you will almost always find one to
> take the case, but if two competent experienced med-canl
> attorneys tell you no, then I'd accept that. At first
> glance I would say it's unlikely that you will succeed; you
> would spend a lot of time and money on depostions and
> experts and then probably lose either on summary judgment or
> at trial. Alhtough I don't have all of the informationm
> here's my analysis: for one thing, the catheter balloon is
> more like the size of a small grape than a pinpong ball, it
> is latex and pretty pliable, i.e. it can be squashed fairly
> easily. You're partially right, it is standard procedure to
> deflate the balloon and remove the catheter as the head
> descends, but wrong about "prior to the head even coming
> close to it." sometimes circumstance like a rapid descent
> prevent this altogether. In any state that I know of, you
> will have to provide expert medical testimony that not only
> did this deviate from the standard of care but that it is
> also a medical certainty that this deviation created your
> wife's problems. since many women have incontinence after
> childbirth for many reasons, I don't think you will have an
> easy time of it. Talk to an attorney soon though, the
> statute of limitations in most states for med-mal is one
> year.

As an attorney/nurse I concur with the foregoing. An urethral
tear can certainly occur during childbirth, but the good news is
it is reparable. I have even less confidence in your 'having a
case' than my knowledgeable colleague, for all the reasons she
cites.

However: Please don't think that my legal opinion means to
ignore your wife's condition, and all the problems which flow
from that. I would advise you to find a good urologist and get
this problem fixed, because it's far from irreparable.

Good luck to you and your wife, and congratulations on your
baby! Attorney/Nurse