Medical Mistakes: When Your Baby is the Victim

Women in general have this overwhelming desire to nurture whether they are taking care of children, a spouse, a pet or even other people. I think the "motherly instinct" is just in the genes. A lot of women have a hard time conceiving for different reasons. Fertility can not only be stressful financially, but it can take a toll on your body physically and mentally as well. When the conception is finally a reality then you should be able to sit back and relax, but that is not always the case.

A young couple close to me went through a horrifying experience lately and most of the details of this experience could have been avoided if the medical personnel involved had followed the proper protocol.

An excited young mother "Amy" found out she was pregnant with twins. Amy and her husband had been trying to conceive for a couple of years. She had gone through a tubular pregnancy that resulted in miscarriage. Their last resort was invitro. Two eggs were implanted and both took so the result was twins. Amy and her husband were ecstatic. There main focus at first was to get through the first couple of months to make sure she could carry the babies. The doctors had told them if you can make it to 20 weeks there is a good chance that you will have a healthy pregnancy. The twenty week mark arrived with minimal complications. Amy did have high blood pressure and she was being monitored for that, but she was still working and things seem to be progressing fine.

One day while picking our tile for the home that they had recently purchased Amy started bleeding. She went directly to the hospital and she was examined and later sent home after they thought they had the bleeding under control. As soon as she arrived home another complication occurred her water broke. She had a long, agonizing ride back to the hospital. Since she was not having contractions there were some options still left. Amy and her husband had grown so attached to these little babies even though she was a mere 21 weeks along. The hospital said that their best option would be to "cut their loses" and abort the babies. This was not an acceptable alternative for Amy and her husband.

Babies at 21 weeks have a fully developed body and most of their organs are almost developed (the lungs and heart are usually still growing but the brain and other vital organs are typically all in tact). The hospital informed them that if the babies were not at least 24 weeks long that they would not be able to intervene to help the babies breathe in any way if she was to go into labor. Amy called around to several hospitals in the area to see if that was the case at every facility. She also called many organizations to like the "March of Dimes" to see what her rights were as a parent. Aborting the babies was not acceptable for Amy and her husband.

Amy was observed over night at the hospital and released to go home on bed rest since she was not in labor. After researching their options they found one hospital in the area that would recisitate the babies if she could make it to 23 weeks. Amy had to hold on to for 2 weeks longer. She stayed in bed and did not do anything for a full 15 days. During this time Amy and her husband prepared themselves for the worst. At 23 weeks and one day Amy started having contractions. She went to the hospital in excruciating pain and was put in a room to be monitored. The nurses said they were not picking up any contractions on the monitor, but Amy was feeling pain. They gave her some pain medication that allowed her to get some rest. Her husband had been working the night shift at the hospital (in a different department) all night and needed to run home to take a shower and check on their dogs. The nurses told him to go ahead and go home, Amy was not in labor and her cervix was closed. Amy had been sleeping for about 4 hours when her husband left. She woke up after a long rest and went to go to the bathroom. Amy sat down and felt something come out in the toilet she looked down and it was a baby. She saw a tiny little body kicking his legs around in the toilet water. She started screaming hysterically for someone to help her. Amy grabbed her baby out of the toilet and gently stoked his head to comfort him until help arrived.

When the doctor and nurse finally got to the room they asked her what she wanted to do. Her reply as "what do you mean what do I want to do? SAVE MY BABY!" They rushed the baby to the ICU where they attempted to resuscitate him without success. Meanwhile Amy's husband "Justin" was contacted and he rushed back to the hospital driving 90 mph down a busy city street in order to get back to his wife. The doctor explained to the couple that the breathing tube was not working on their son and that he had probably gone without oxygen for too long anyway so he could have brain damage, but they could not tell for sure. This little guy still had some life in him, but they took him off the machines because his lungs were not responding to the oxygen. Basically they were told there was nothing that could be done. They brought the little guy back to his parents so they could say goodbye. His dad talked to him and held him for about 15 minutes while he moved his small legs around until his last breath. Amy and Justin had to sit there with this precious little angel and watch him "slip away". The tiny baby "Aiden" in his one pound body was only able to spend about an hour on this earth, but he will always be in our hearts. Even though most of the family was not able to see Aiden, his parents made him "real". The way they describe him and the emotion in their eyes and faces bring him to life.

Stopping here for moment, I would like to discuss the attitude of the doctors and medical staff. I realize that in the medical profession sometimes you have to distance yourself from getting too emotionally involved, but in my opinion the staff in this case was just "cold". They pretty much had ridden off this baby's life from the start. I think there should be little compassion for the parents in these types of situations.

Moving on this is not the end of the story. Now the grieving parents had to face another obstacle. There was another baby still in the womb. The babies were fraternal twins so they were in separate sacks. Amy and her husband had done some research when her water broke and they knew that the other baby might be able to stay in the mother as long as there was not a risk for infection. They had filled out "advanced directives" at the hospital to outline exactly what procedures they wanted the staff to follow. Since the new parents were still in shock with the loss of their first son they were not thinking clearly, that is were the advance directives come in.

The resident on duty told Amy that she was going to have to deliver the other baby. Justin said we have filled out papers stating our wishes and we do not want to deliver the other child until he has received the proper treatments to develop his lungs, so we need to keep him in there longer. The doctor said that there might be risk of infection. This scenario was addressed in the directive papers. Justin knew that they could test the placenta by doing an amniocentesis in order to detect any infection. Again, these directions were ignored and the resident doctor checked Amy and said it was too late the other water had already broke. Amy and Justin were not comfortable with her assessment, but she did not give them a choice. The other infant was delivered and he came out in the sack with the water fully in tact. The doctor did not know for sure the water had broken, she was wrong and her decision will probably affect this baby for the rest of his life. This little baby did not get the steroids inside the womb to develop his lungs. There was a chance he could have stayed in his mother for several more weeks or even a couple of months so he could grow. Of course the medical staff just excused their mistake and the baby was put on a ventilator.

Little "Ashton" was 1 pound 2 ounces and measured 11 inches long. His lungs were still developing and he has to breathe with the help of a machine. At a young 23 weeks this baby was not expected to survive. Doctors did an ultrasound on his brain to check for bleeds and found none. His heart had one valve that was still open but it has a chance of being corrected by medication or possibly routine surgery.

Ashton is a fighter although his tiny body is no bigger than a cordless phone he is fighting to stay alive. With his loving parents by his side both day and night he is almost breathing on his own. He had a major set back a week ago when he developed a staff infection in his blood, but it looks as if the infection is responding to antibiotics. The open valve on his heart is starting to close and he has gained a whole pound. Although his is only 27 weeks now his odds for surviving are getting better with everyday that passes. He has a long road ahead of him and he certainly is still at risk for other complications, but he is hanging in there. There is hope for the family to hold on to, but it will definitely be a long process and several months in the hospital.

Let's talk about the actions of the doctors and nurses who were supposed to be doing everything in Amy and the baby's best interest. First of all they did not even have Amy in a labor and delivery room. With premature babies and high risk births the patient is supposed to be in room right next to the newborn ICU so they can hand the baby through a window to receive medical care right after they were born. If Aiden had been that close to the ICU he might have not had to wait so long to be resuscitated and he might have had chance. If Ashton had been able to stay in the womb for even 24 hours longer and have the treatments he needed then he may not even be on a ventilator today.

I know there are a lot of variables in this situation, but what would you do if you were the parents? Wouldn't these thoughts be going through your mind? Some of the procedures that took place were not necessary and in my opinion the staff did not follow the proper protocol and in some ways were negligent in their actions. How do we stop these types of medical mistakes from happening?

This couple did everything they were supposed to and they even took steps to have everything in writing, but their wishes were not granted and the doctor took it upon herself to do what she wanted to do instead of doing what the parents needed her to do.

I don't profess to be an expert when it comes to medical practices, but in this case there is clearly some explaining to be done by the medical staff.