Birth Injuries, The Law & Perinatal Safety

Patient safety and the obstetric team's central role in providing quality care have been on the forefront of national and international health care discussions for many years. Advances in care for perinatal and neonatal patients have reduced the frequency of morbidity and mortality. However, perinatal litigation is increasing and the U.S. is ranked higher than many countries for frequency of perinatal morbidity and mortality!

Clinical challenges remain in many areas such as interpretation of fetal heart rate patterns and neonatal response to treatment of necrotizing enterocolitis. Clinical documentation has increasingly been key in the outcome of litigation. "If it wasn't written, was it done"? Defending perinatal brain injury and catastrophic cases and jury comprehension of important clinical issues are crucial to the outcome of litigation.