Would you advise to sue?

aussie oi oi oi · Feb 18, 2002

I would be careful in advising a person to sue or not to sue as these things have a way of turning around and biting you on the butt! I would discuss it with a co worker that I could trust. I have recently had a family member who gave birth to a beautiful little girl, the baby has done nothing but throw up for the last 5 months, the mother had the baby back at the hospital every week with the same complaint, on occassions the hosp, did do tests etc, the baby was finally admitted as it is the size of a 12 week old baby at 6 months and the documenation in the charts stated that the parents were nerotic and needed a rest, so the bub was admitted, turns out there was a locum who knew his stuff, the bottom line is the baby had a cerbral bleed at 6 weeks of age, the hosp knew but ignored, and the baby has just been diagnosed with a portion of her brain missing and having cerebral palsy. I have advised the family to sue for a couple of reasons, one is it will make the hosp have some accountability, it may provide financial releif for the family has they have spent a great deal of money on seeking other diagnosis and it may make the staff involved think twice before treating families the same way. While I would hope that all health staff do take proper care mistakes do happen and I think it is the line between mistakes and neglect that has to be drawn. I think the effect of the mistake on the pt must be assessed, and the degree of adverse effect, as well as the circumsatnces involved as nurses and doctors hsould not be made the scape goats for mistakes when there is inappropiate work loads or allocations involved. Hope this helps.