Dayton, OH asked in Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury for Ohio

Q: I had a baby two weeks ago, the hospital released me. Two weeks later i started himriging had to have surgery.

Started himriging again, had to have blood transfusions. They did not get all of my placenta out so it fussed to my uterus. They put a balloon in to stop bleeding, but it tore my uterus so had to have emergency surgery again. This time they gave me a entire historectomy. Im 21 years old and can not have anymore kids because they didn't clean me out good enough and got infected. Is there any malpractice in this?

2 Lawyer Answers
Joel Gary Selik
Joel Gary Selik
Answered
  • Medical Malpractice Lawyer
  • Las Vegas, NV

A: Medical malpractice means that a doctor violated the standard of care. A bad outcome is not enough. Another doctor would be needed to evaluate what the doctors did. Consult with experienced attorneys in the state where this occurred.

Laurence Michael Deutsch
Laurence Michael Deutsch
Answered
  • Medical Malpractice Lawyer
  • New York, NY

A: I'm not licensed in Ohio but from what you say I think you should look for a medical malpractice attorney in your State who specializes in malpractice. From what you say, I believe that you will find qualified attorneys who will want to investigate this in detail, if you find the right attorneys.

From what you say, it appears this may be a viable case (that this was a miss that should not have occurred). And, inability to have more children at 21 is, to my thinking, a significant injury, in addition to the pain and distress you experienced from the hemorrhage itself. The legal "value" of such a matter will also depend on a number of other factors, e.g. how many children you now have, whether married, plans to have future children etc.

I brought a very similar case in New York for failing to diagnose "retained placenta" and won that in a jury trial. Our experts believed (and the jury agreed) that there was insufficient examination and that the retained placenta should have been picked up.

In addition, it seems that the balloon placement itself may have been negligent in causing additional injury.

As this is a specialized area, I would advise to seek a "true" medical malpractice attorney. Look at the website of prospective attorneys, and see if they emphasize medical cases (or have particular attorney who specialize in them). Too many attorneys try to do the "occasional" malpractice case, but in my experience this doesn't work well.

I hope this is of some help to you.

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