Quote:
Originally Posted by ungluued
Sacha, I am so sorry you and your son had to experience that complication. However, I am wondering why you say interventions brought it on because shoulder dystocia is due to the baby's shoulders being wider than the head, and one gets caught behind the pubic bone after the head is delivered. How is that caused by the doctors actions?
The doctor explained to me after that a variety of problems contributed. The first OBGYN had broken my waters artificially but actually had not. Then the pitocin was not administered correctly. I explained to them over and over that I was not experiencing contractions but they said I just had a high pain threshold. When the next OBGYN came in 24 hours later, she was shocked and broke my waters again and re-administered the pitocin. There was no epidural until day 3 by then I was in agony.
The epidural had slowed the labour down so badly (my labour was 3 days active) that she believe it had caused him to be in a very poor position for vaginal delivery (he was also a large baby which increased his risk). She stated to me after (I pushed for 4 hours) that it should have been a C-section long before it got to that stage, due to the high risk of SD. The pediatrician later stated that he thought that the baby should have been a C-section.
The difference here may be that I am not in the United States and medical malpractice litigation is not nearly as common. So, my OBGYN (the 2nd one, who delivered him and broke his collarbone) was completely honest to me about what happened and she said they made mistakes. I can imagine that sort of honesty would not have come from an American doctor out of fear of slander and medical malpractice. As was said, damned if they do and damned if they don't. They're not God.
Don't get me wrong, I am very happy for what she did as she did save his life in the end, but it's an example of how when it rains, it pours, and too much medical intervention can contribute to problems. I admit, his labour was a fluke.
I myself work in emergency services so I am 100% understanding that these things do happen, that occasionally good professional people make mistakes, I've done it myself.