An Augusta couple filed a lawsuit against University Hospital on May 13. They’re seeking $2 million after they say that a doctor and nurse at the hospital were negligent in diagnosing her abdominal pain and in handling her miscarried fetus.
In the filing, the married couple chronicles how the 16 weeks pregnant wife started experiencing debilitating abdominal pain in May of 2018 and proceeded to the hospital to get checked out. Although she was experiencing nausea and vomiting and contractions that were just five minutes apart, she was forced to wait 45 minutes to be seen by a nurse or doctor.
By the time a doctor performed an ultrasound on her, the fetus’ heart rate had climbed to 150 beats per minute. Despite being visibly in pain, the doctor attempted to discharge her. When she refused to leave without being treated, the doctor ordered her out of the ER.
The woman attempted to use a restroom inside the ER before she left. Her water broke and she vomited before she walked in. Nurses simply gave her wet wipes and a hospital gown to get herself cleaned up. The woman proceeded into the restroom and took a seat on the toilet. It’s there that she miscarried her child.
It’s only after she departed the bathroom and shouted that she’d lost her baby that a nurse approached her and told her to get cleaned up so that she could be checked out in an exam room. The nurse and doctor then reportedly both went into the restroom and flushed the fetus down the toilet. They then returned to the exam room to relay the same.
According to the plaintiff, they both falsified the records to reflect that she’d passed a blood clot and tissue and not the fetus.
The plaintiffs are suing the doctor and Georgia hospital for medical malpractice for what they allege was their improper handling of the fetus. They note that they never gave anyone their consent to dispose of it in the way that they did. They’re also seeking damages to include mental and physical pain associated with the alleged mishandling of the incident.
From misdiagnoses to birth injuries to medication errors, these are just some examples of types of medical negligence that exist. Cases like these are often difficult to prove. An experienced medical malpractice attorney can help you fight for the compensation that you deserve.