Standard of Care in Birth Injury Cases

This is the fifth article in our series aimed at providing a detailed examination of the challenges and pitfalls in different types of medical negligence lawsuits and approaches to overcoming them. Letty Condon considers the unique aspects of birth injuries and the nature of obstetric practice. When caring for a patient in labour and delivery, healthcare professionals must know when observation and expectant care is appropriate and also when it is necessary to intervene, for the sake of both the pregnant person and their baby. This article will review cases in which obstetricians and other health care professionals failed to intervene in labour and also where they failed to obtain informed consent from the person in labour for the planned delivery.