This Provincial Court Las Palmas upheld the court’s decision on all terms. Puerto del Rosario Criminal Court No. 2 a midwife in November 2020 General Hospital He prosecuted Fuerteventura for an injury charge resulting from serious professional negligence and declared his insurance company – and a subsidiary of the Canary Islands Health Service – direct civil liability in the payment of compensation for damages and annual and lifetime pension of 3,090,436 euros. 25,000 euros.
The sentence, now upheld by the Chamber, concerned the serious and irreversible injuries sustained by a girl born in Germany as a result of the midwife’s “negligence and professional carelessness”. Fuerteventura General Hospital on September 20, 2008.
failure First Division of Las Palmas CourtThe Mapfre insurer and its subsidiary of the Canary Islands Health Service, who dismissed the convicted woman’s and her insurer’s objections, confirmed that the nurse had been sentenced to four months’ imprisonment and one year’s special lay-off, and decided that the girl should compensate her parents for injuries, sequelae, loss of earnings and indirect and non-pecuniary damages, plus direct legal liability of EUR 3,090,436.49, plus annual pension and Lifetime payment of EUR 25,000, statutory interest. The Chamber also bears the costs of the appeal.
Proven facts
According to the decision, on September 20, 2008, the girl’s 9 months and 1 week pregnant mother went to the hospital. Fuerteventura General Hospital assisted by the on-call gynecologist for a routine examination. This, by assessing the situation, initially told her that she would undergo labor inductionbecause it is a pregnancy that is in the process of extension.
Emphasizing the verdict from that first moment, checked by midwife.
It was prepared for a pre-induction, without determining whether oxytocin was actually given to accelerate contractions. However, the verdict has been proven, “Fetal monitoring was performed starting at 9:10 am and initially showing reactivity, variability, and little or no uterine activity on the monitor; then assessed at ranges considered normal. some temporary acceleration and little uterine motility, and between 12:30 and approximately 13:30, uterine activity increases to the count of five contractions of great intensity for 10 minutes, with high basal tone, reaching 6 contractions every 10 minutes, and basal uterine pressure always above 20 mgHg” .
This was at least objectified by uterine activity 50 minutes recording The precedent continues the sentence, at 13:45 the midwife said, “Despite the significant increase in uterine contractions since 12:30, she suspends the follow-up and recordings without consulting the doctor.” At this time, fetal heart rate was still within the ranges considered normal, but five and six contractions were recorded every ten minutes.
The frequency and severity of uterine contractions increased, “The patient, who was in a room with his wife, complained about this and went to the midwife’s office several times to report his wife’s condition, both times and despite all the interventions”. He said he had 5 contractions every 10 minutes.”
In the decision, despite this and “with these records, which show that the pregnant woman is in labor pain, the midwife”Without consulting the gynecologist, he left the patient unmonitored at 13:45 and did not record these situations in the medical records or on the midwife’s paper.”.
pain complaints
“Despite the patient’s complaint of constant pain, she was not looked at again until 15:55 without being followed up and any follow-up regarding the development of her birth. The bag ruptured. The patient fainted and was carried inside her. She held her husband’s arms and the recording continued, very severe bradycardia in the fetus and continuous uterine hypertonia was found,” he says.
At that time, I informed the gynecologist, lAn emergency cesarean was performed at 16:30.The little girl who was born in cardiac-respiratory arrest was intubated due to asystole and apnea.
The diagnosis at birth, recorded in the pediatrician’s clinical history, was: “Newborn female, weight for gestational age in cardiorespiratory arrest, no spontaneous breathing, and an initial Apgar score. [prueba que evalúa el estado de salud del bebé] two due to hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy due to acute fetal distress”.
As a result of all this, the decision comes to the following conclusion: the girl suffered irreversible character damagesuffering from infantile cerebral palsy of the spastic tetraperesis type due to perinatal fetal suffering (hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy), “this prevents him from living an independent life, he needs someone beside him 24 hours a day, he completely loses his physical and intellectual autonomy. and sensory, for all activities of daily life. Requires a permanent orthosis for stability as it requires assistance (can’t perform basic daily activities such as eating, toileting, mobilization, cannot control sphincters) and needs to be replaced as it grows.