Pregnancy BP Mistakes Demand Justice

What Is Preeclampsia and Why Does It Matter?

This pregnancy complication surfaces when expectant mothers develop dangerously high blood pressure combined with signs of organ stress — typically appearing after week 20 of pregnancy. The condition disrupts normal blood flow through the placenta, starving your developing baby of oxygen and nutrients while simultaneously threatening your own health.

Women carrying their first child encounter preeclampsia more frequently than those who've delivered before. Age plays a significant role, as mothers under 20 or over 35 see elevated rates. Multiple babies, whether twins or triplets, increase the workload on your placenta and cardiovascular system, raising complication rates.

Birth Injuries Linked to Preeclampsia Medical Negligence

Our Pittsburgh birth injury lawyer pursues compensation for families devastated by these preventable outcomes.

Conditions we handle:

• Brain damage from reduced oxygen: When restricted placental blood flow goes unaddressed, your baby's developing brain suffers from inadequate oxygen supply, potentially causing lasting cognitive impairment and developmental delays.

• Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy: This severe form of oxygen deprivation occurs when blood flow to the brain drops critically low, destroying brain cells and causing conditions like seizure disorders and movement difficulties.

• Cerebral palsy: Permanent neurological damage affecting movement, muscle tone, and coordination, which is often the direct result of oxygen deprivation that doctors should have prevented through timely intervention.
  

• Placental separation: When uncontrolled blood pressure tears the placenta away from the uterine wall, emergency bleeding threatens both mother and baby, requiring immediate surgical delivery to prevent death.
  

• Complications from emergency premature delivery: Babies delivered early to save mother and child from worsening preeclampsia may face respiratory problems, temperature regulation issues, and underdeveloped organ systems.
  

• Maternal seizures: When preeclampsia progresses to eclampsia, convulsions can cause falls, aspiration, stroke, or death, which are all preventable with proper monitoring and treatment.
  

• Kidney and liver failure: Severely elevated blood pressure damages these organs in mothers, sometimes causing permanent dysfunction that requires lifelong medical care.
  

• Wrongful death: In the most tragic cases, delayed diagnosis or treatment leads to the loss of mother, baby, or both.
  

How Medical Professionals Fail Preeclampsia Patients

Most women with this condition deliver healthy babies when healthcare teams follow established monitoring protocols and respond appropriately to warning signs. Tragedy strikes when medical providers cut corners, ignore symptoms, or delay necessary interventions.

Missing the Diagnosis

Medical providers frequently fail to diagnose preeclampsia by dismissing high blood pressure or ignoring classic patient symptoms like severe headaches and vision changes. This negligence allows the condition to progress and cause preventable harm before treatment even begins.

Insufficient Monitoring After Diagnosis

After diagnosis, doctors often fail to implement the required intensive monitoring protocols, such as frequent blood pressure checks and lab work. By spacing appointments too far apart or failing to monitor the fetus closely, healthcare teams allow the condition to dangerously worsen between visits.

Waiting Too Long to Deliver

Negligence occurs when doctors unjustifiably delay delivery, the only definitive cure for preeclampsia, despite clear signs of maternal or fetal distress. This delay, often compounded by failing to administer necessary lung-maturing steroids, drastically increases the risk of severe, irreversible birth injuries.

Labor and Delivery Mistakes

During labor, failures in care, such as relying on intermittent fetal monitoring or missing crucial distress patterns on the monitor strips, can lead to immediate brain damage from oxygen deprivation. Continuing labor when intervention is needed or failing to maintain the mother's blood pressure can cause tragic and preventable outcomes for both mother and baby.

Steps to Take After Your Child's Injury

Discovering that medical mistakes during your pregnancy caused your child's condition brings overwhelming emotions. These practical steps help protect your family's legal rights while ensuring your child receives appropriate care.

• Get a thorough medical assessment: Find specialists who can evaluate your child's condition completely — pediatric neurologists for brain injuries, developmental pediatricians for delays, and physical medicine doctors for movement problems. Their documentation establishes the full scope of harm and necessary treatments.

• Secure complete medical records: Request every page of your prenatal care notes, all blood pressure readings, laboratory test results, fetal monitoring strips from labor, delivery room records, and postnatal care for both you and your baby. These documents form the foundation of proving negligence.
  

• Track your child's challenges: Maintain a detailed journal noting developmental milestones your child misses, therapy appointments, medical visits, medications, adaptive equipment needs, and how their condition affects your family's daily routine. This ongoing documentation proves the life-altering impact of medical negligence.

• Protect your legal rights: Hospital risk management teams and insurance adjusters may contact you requesting statements or signatures on documents. Decline these interactions until you've consulted an experienced attorney who protects your interests rather than the hospital's.

• Speak with Pittsburgh birth injury lawyers: Medical malpractice claims in Pennsylvania require meeting specific legal requirements within strict timeframes. Early consultation with qualified legal counsel preserves your ability to seek compensation for your child's injuries.

• Maintain prescribed care: Continue all recommended physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and medical treatments. Consistent care helps your child reach their maximum potential while demonstrating to courts the extensive, ongoing needs that compensation must cover.

Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Law for Birth Injuries

Our state imposes specific legal requirements that birth injury cases must satisfy. Families need to work with attorneys who understand these Pennsylvania-specific rules.

Certificate of Merit Rules

State law requires having another qualified doctor review your case before filing a lawsuit. This physician must practice in the same medical specialty as the doctor you're suing, for example, an obstetrician to review prenatal care. They must provide written certification that your care fell below accepted medical standards and that this substandard care caused your child's injuries. This requirement prevents frivolous lawsuits while ensuring legitimate cases proceed.

Time Limits for Filing Preeclampsia Claims

Adult injury victims in Pennsylvania typically face a two-year deadline to file medical malpractice lawsuits. However, the law extends this timeframe significantly when the victim is a child. Minors have until their 20th birthday to initiate legal action. This longer window recognizes that some birth injury effects don't fully manifest until children grow older and miss developmental milestones their peers achieve. Despite this extended deadline, earlier action better preserves evidence and witness memories.

Financial Recovery for Families Harmed by Preeclampsia Negligence

Compensation aims to cover every expense and loss your family faces because healthcare providers failed to properly manage this pregnancy complication.