OB/GYNs guide patients through some of the most significant moments in their healthcare, from routine wellness exams to childbirth. Patients place enormous trust in these providers, often during vulnerable or high-stakes circumstances. When an OB/GYN fails to meet the accepted standard of care, the consequences can be life-threatening.
Proving these claims requires a close look at medical records, expert opinions, and the profession’s specific standards. A Florida medical malpractice lawyer can help sort through this evidence and determine whether a provider’s error crossed the line from an unfortunate outcome into negligence.
How Common Are OB/GYN Malpractice Claims?
Malpractice claims against OB/GYNs are more common than many patients realize. According to Medscape’s Ob/Gyn Malpractice Report 2021, nearly 8 in 10 OB/GYNs said they had been named in at least one malpractice claim during their careers, and the specialty ranks among the most frequently sued medical fields. The survey found that OB/GYNs face lawsuits at a notably higher rate than physicians overall.
The report also identified the most common reasons patients pursued these claims. Complications arising from treatment or surgery topped the list, followed by poor outcomes or disease progression, delayed or missed diagnoses, and failure to treat a condition in a timely manner.
Errors During Prenatal Care
Prenatal visits give an OB/GYN repeated opportunities to catch problems early, while there’s still time to act. When a provider overlooks warning signs during these appointments, a manageable condition can turn into a medical emergency.
Conditions like preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and placenta previa often emerge or become detectable as a pregnancy progresses. Close monitoring and timely testing are meant to catch them before they become dangerous. When a provider fails to order the right tests, or misreads bloodwork or an ultrasound, a serious condition can go unnoticed until it puts the mother or baby at risk.
Failing to manage a high-risk pregnancy properly can also set the stage for complications during labor and delivery. When warning signs are missed early on, the mother and baby may enter delivery already facing a heightened risk of harm.
Labor and Delivery Errors
Labor and delivery leave little room for error. A healthy delivery depends on close monitoring and quick decision-making, and a lapse at the wrong moment can cause birth injuries and harm to mothers.
Fetal Monitoring Failures
Fetal heart rate monitoring gives the care team a window into how the baby is tolerating contractions and whether the baby is getting enough oxygen. When a provider misreads these results, or fails to act on signs of fetal distress, the baby can suffer oxygen deprivation that leads to permanent brain injury.
Delayed or Unnecessary C-Sections
Timing matters when it comes to a cesarean section. A delayed C-section can leave a baby in distress for too long, while performing one that isn’t medically necessary carries its own surgical risks. Either way, the decision requires careful judgment based on the mother and baby’s condition in the moment.
Forceps, Vacuum Extraction, and Shoulder Dystocia
Difficult deliveries sometimes call for forceps or vacuum extraction to help guide the baby through the birth canal. These tools can cause serious harm when used improperly, including skull fractures, nerve damage, and brachial plexus injuries. Shoulder dystocia, when a baby’s shoulder becomes lodged during delivery, presents another high-risk moment that requires providers to recognize the signs quickly and use the correct maneuvers.
Medication Errors During Labor
Drugs like Pitocin are commonly used to induce or strengthen contractions, but incorrect dosing can cause contractions that are too strong or too frequent. This puts added stress on the baby and increases the risk of complications.
Each of these moments requires a provider’s full attention and sound judgment. When that standard slips, the consequences for mother and child can be severe and permanent.
Postpartum Errors
A patient’s care doesn’t end after delivery. The hours, days, and weeks after birth carry their own risks for both mother and child, and the standard of care doesn’t relax simply because delivery is over.
Postpartum hemorrhage is one of the most serious risks a new mother faces. Excessive bleeding after delivery can escalate quickly, and providers must recognize the warning signs and respond without delay. A delayed response can lead to shock, organ damage, or death. Infection is another concern in the days following delivery. Sepsis can develop quietly at first, and a provider who fails to monitor for fever, unusual pain, or other signs of infection may miss the window for effective treatment.
Newborns also require close monitoring in the postpartum period. Premature infants are at risk for retinopathy of prematurity, a condition affecting the eyes that can lead to permanent vision loss if it isn’t screened for and treated in time. Jaundice is another common newborn condition, but when left untreated, it can progress to kernicterus, a form of brain damage caused by a buildup of bilirubin. Both conditions are manageable when caught early, which makes timely screening and follow-up essential.
Before a mother and baby leave the hospital, providers must ensure both are stable and prepared for what comes next. Inadequate discharge instructions or a failure to schedule appropriate follow-up care can leave families without the guidance they need to recognize complications at home.
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Gynecological Diagnosis Errors
An OB/GYN’s responsibilities extend well beyond pregnancy. Routine gynecological care should catch and treat conditions that can affect a patient’s health for years to come, and a missed or delayed diagnosis can let a serious condition progress unchecked.
Cervical, uterine, ovarian, and breast cancers are serious conditions that rely on timely detection. When a provider fails to order the right screening, misreads results, or dismisses symptoms that warrant further testing, a treatable cancer can advance to a stage where treatment options are limited and survival odds decline.
A provider’s failure to communicate results is its own form of negligence. Lost test results, delayed lab reports, or a failure to follow up on an abnormal finding can mean a patient never learns about a condition until it has already worsened.
Surgical Errors
Surgery carries inherent risks, but patients trust that their OB/GYN will take every reasonable precaution to avoid preventable harm. Whether the procedure is a hysterectomy, a C-section, or a laparoscopic surgery, mistakes in the operating room can leave lasting damage.
Some of the more common surgical errors we see include:
- Damage to nearby organs, nerves, or blood vessels during the procedure
- Surgical instruments or sponges left inside the patient after closing
- Operating on the wrong site, or performing an unnecessary procedure altogether
- Improper technique during a C-section that causes injury to the mother or baby
Anesthesia also plays a role in many surgical settings. An anesthesiologist’s failure to properly monitor a patient during an OB/GYN procedure can lead to complications separate from the surgery itself, but no less serious.
Recovery from a surgical error often requires additional procedures to correct the damage, along with extended pain, scarring, and time away from work and family. When an error stems from carelessness rather than an unavoidable complication, patients have the right to hold the responsible provider accountable.
What Makes These Cases Medical Malpractice?
Not every poor outcome results from negligence. Medicine involves risk, and even the most skilled OB/GYN cannot guarantee a perfect result every time. To hold a provider accountable, a claim must establish four elements:
- Duty of care: A doctor-patient relationship existed, meaning the OB/GYN had a professional obligation to provide treatment that met the accepted standard of care.
- Breach of duty: The provider’s actions, or failure to act, fell short of what a reasonably competent OB/GYN would have done under the same circumstances.
- Causation: The breach, not the underlying condition itself, is what caused the harm. Developing preeclampsia, for example, isn’t malpractice on its own. But if a provider fails to monitor or treat it and the condition leads to fetal distress or another preventable complication, that failure may be the direct cause of the resulting harm.
- Damages: The harm must be substantial enough to result in real, measurable losses, not just a difficult experience.
These elements can be difficult to piece together without the right resources. Medical records only tell part of the story, and it often takes an experienced eye and the right experts to see the full picture.
Let Us Help You Hold Negligent Providers Accountable
Facing a health crisis caused by someone you trusted to help you is difficult to put into words. You may be trying to make sense of what went wrong and why, all while dealing with the fallout in your own life. You don’t have to sort through these questions alone.
The team at Freidin Brown, P.A. has spent more than 45 years holding negligent healthcare providers accountable across Florida. We approach every case with the personal attention it deserves, drawing on decades of trial experience and a deep network of medical experts to build the strongest possible claim on your behalf. If an OB/GYN’s negligence changed the course of your life or your family’s life, we want to hear your story. Call us today for a free, confidential consultation.
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