Please read, my DH and I are considering suing my OB

[angelaezra]

I have a question for everyone:

I recently lost my daughter at 20 weeks (stillbirth). I went to my follow-up appoinment today and they believe that I suffered from a Placenta Aburption. Ok, so this is my problem and question. The week before they realized she had no heart beat, I went in the office for my 19 week follow-up and I told the OB that I had severe pain the night before and I mean pain to the point that I couldn't move or walk and they had a really hard time finding her heartbeat. My husband had to help me to the bed and when I told my OB he brushed me off and said that it was normal uterine growth. But, I told him that it wasn't because I couldn't even walk, which was so abnormal from my normal strecthing symptoms. But, he chose to ignore me and send me on my merry way. Also, my sister had severe complications because he blew my sister off and he son has suffered the consequences. Ok so when I brought this up to his parnter she got PIS*** and said I am not responsible for your babies death nor is my partner. I couldn't believe my ears. My baby is dead and YOU ARE PIS***!!!!! Then I said I am not going in this pregnancy blindly I have had 1 miscarriage, 1 ectopic pregnancy, and now vanishing twins ending with a stillbirth and to top it off I am a Registered Nurse so I know the complications and the risks but he should have known my history and my symptoms and have done a ultrasound and then put me on bedrest. She said, well there is nothing that could have been done since she was not viable at 20 weeks. But, I know plenty of women who the same situtation ocurred and bedrest did the trick in 90% of the time but my daughter was still worth the effort.

Please tell me your thoughts. My husband and I are considering legal action!! If I can prevent this from happening to other women, it is worth it. I wouldn't wish this on my worse enemy!!!!!
_________________
1 miscarriage 2002
1 ectopic pregnancy 2006
married for 8 yrs
ttc for 8 yrs
33 yrs old & (DH) 35yrs
1st IVF: BFP 1st Beta: 152, 2nd Beta: 302, 3rd Beta: 1800, 4th Beta: 2880, 5th Beta:

Lost Ashley at 20 weeks

[ann d.]

angelaezra... I am so sorry for your loss. I can't begin to know the pain and anger you must feel. Your story is a scary one but I am grateful that you are sharing it. At 12 weeks on Friday I went to the bathroom and found some red bleeding. Come to find out that I had a small separation between the placent and the uterus. This was the morning after my OB/GYN said I could resume to normal activities. I know in my situation this is not her fault b/c I didn't do anything unusual the night before. I met with her today to ask her tons of questions about what had happened and wouldn't let her leave until I felt comfortable. It makes me think if future situations like this occur, I have to question everything and listen to my gut. And your story reminds me of that.

I think you need to follow your gut on this one as well. Perhaps do more research and see if what your OB told you to do is considered protocol for someone with your history. A red flag to me is that you mention that your sister had complications with this OB, too? That sounds a little suspicious.

My condolences for your loss and the best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

[lyly14]

angeleazra- I am so sorry for your loss. I have had my share of m/c and they are not easy to deal with. I cannot imagine carrying a baby for 20 weeks only to lose it. You should really consult another OB outside of your current practice to have them review your history and current situation. Are they sure it was an abruption? I didn't see anywhere in your post if you had bleeding. Usually with a placental abruption you will have bleeding. Maybe that diagnosis is not accurate. Either way it cannot take away your pain, but finding out what really happened is important especially if you want to take legal action or plan on trying again. Make sure you get a copy of all your records and they don't leave anything out. Good luck with everything and again I am so sorry for your loss.

[JamieP]

Firstly let me say I am truly sorry to hear of your loss. Losing a baby at 20 weeks is very difficult. I hope you are doing OK.

I had placenta abruption at 23 weeks with a previous pregnancy and it was accompanied by bleeding which I understand it usually is. I was put on bed rest but told that there was nothing they could do and even bed rest was shown to make hardly any difference. So they might be right in that there was nothing they could do.

Also with this pregnancy I have had pain where I could not walk! It happened between 20 and 30 weeks and my obgyn says it was ligament pain. Sometimes it wore off after a couple of hours and sometimes it was around all day.

I think Ann is right and you should get a second opinion before you rush into anything. There is a difference between an incompetent doctor and one who has very bad bedside manner and you don't want to throw money at something that is not likely to bring you the results you want.

I hope you are doing OK. Take care of yourself.

Jamie

[SilverAngel679]

It can't hurt to talk to a lawer and see what your options are. You and your husband will always wonder if this guy could have done something to prevent the loss of your little Ashley and chose not to. And the nerve of his partner! Does she know how much it hurts a women to hear that something so precious to her wasn't "Viable" anyway?
I'm sure she was viable to you and your right, she deserved the effort.
Talk to the lawer and find out if you even have a case, then make you decision based on that. That's my advice.
And I want you to know how very sorry I am about your daughter. I hope your healing well and when the time is right you'll try again.

::HUGS::

[angelaezra]

Thank you so much for your post and your support. My DH and I are thinking everything over very carefully. I just want to prevent his from happening to someone else if possible. Now that I am looking into the situation, we are discovering other signs and symptoms that were missed and ignored.