Physician Does not Treat Premature Infant For GBS
February 22nd, 2010 | by admin |In one reported case, a doctor delivered a pregnant woman’s baby in the thirty-sixth week of the woman’s pregnancy. A full term delivery is considered roughly forty weeks. The infant was thus slightly premature. A premature delivery is a recognized risk factor for the infant contracting an infection from the Group B Streptococcus bacteria. Physicians generally recommend that antibiotics be used while the mother is in in labor so as to minimize the chance of infection to the newborn. This physician, however, did not comply with this recommendation. In addition, the physician failed to provide antibiotics to the child after birth. The newborn developed a severe infection of the respiratory system. Subsequently, the newborn needed to stay in the hospital for a number of months. The baby was left with permanent respiratory damage. The law firm that represented the family published that the matter settled for $1.6 Million.