When you go into the hospital to have your baby, you expect that the doctors, nurses, medical staff, technology, and equipment there will keep you and your baby safe throughout labor and delivery. If you have given birth or someone you love has, you know that part of the process is fetal monitoring. One of the first things labor and delivery staff often do is place electronic fetal monitoring sensors around the mother’s abdomen to monitor the baby’s heart rate and the mother’s contractions.
If the doctor or nurse fails to adequately monitor this information and the baby is harmed as a result, you may have a negligence claim. Consult with our experienced fetal distress malpractice attorneys today to learn more about your rights and options for filing a birth injury lawsuit in Maryland.
Fetal Distress Malpractice: What The Monitoring Strips Can Tell You
A fetal distress malpractice claim usually turns on what the monitoring strips recorded and how quickly someone acted on it. Here is what matters most if you believe warning signs were missed during labor.
Key Takeaways
- The strips are a timed record, and that is what makes them powerful. Each small square represents 10 seconds and larger partitions represent one minute, so a tracing shows not just that a warning sign appeared, but exactly when it appeared and how long it went unanswered.
- Certain patterns are recognized red flags. Loss of variability or a flat baseline heart rate, decelerations that drop and linger after a contraction ends, abnormal tracings signaling fetal distress, and prolonged decelerations lasting minutes are all patterns providers are trained to catch.
- Not every difficult birth is negligence. A claim requires duty of care, breach, causation, and damages, which means showing that providers failed to act as reasonably competent professionals would have and that the failure caused your child’s injury.
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You Were There. You Remember The Room Changing.
Parents often describe the same thing: a shift in the room, a monitor that kept alarming, a pause that felt far too long. Afterward they’re told it was just one of those things, and they spend years quietly wondering whether that was true.
The monitoring strips are a record, and they don’t fade the way memory does. Our attorneys will read them alongside the rest of the chart and tell you honestly what we see in the timeline. The consultation costs nothing.
Schedule A Free ConsultationWhat Are Fetal Monitoring Strips?
Fetal monitoring strips are continuous electronic or paper records generated by an electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) machine. They are used to track two things: the baby’s heart rate and the mother’s contractions. They are commonly used during active labor but can be used throughout pregnancy to monitor the pregnancy progression and the baby’s well-being.
Doctors and nurses use these strips and the data they report to determine the baby’s stress and identify signs that may suggest inadequate oxygenation.
Typically, they show two lines over a grid layout. The top line represents the baby’s heartbeats per minute, and the bottom line shows how often and how strong the mother’s contractions are.
They are overlaid on a grid graph paper, with each small square representing 10 seconds and larger partitions representing 1 minute.
Why Are Fetal Monitoring Strips So Important?
These strips and the readings they provide are extremely important and can be immensely helpful in letting the treating medical providers know how the baby is doing through pregnancy and, more importantly, throughout labor.
Was It Just a Complication or Negligence?
The difficult truth is that not every complication rises to the level of a medical malpractice claim. Remember, medicine is not an exact science.
Complications with pregnancy and childbirth can happen due to a number of factors:
- Pre-existing conditions in the mother, known or unknown;
- Known pregnancy complications;
- Diagnosed or suspected conditions in the unborn child;
- The mother’s unique body and medical history; and
- Unpredictable complications from labor and delivery.
Even if the doctor or nurses followed the accepted standard of care for both mother and baby, medical complications can still occur.
What Are Critical Warning Signs on Fetal Monitoring Strips?
Doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel are trained to recognize irregularities and specific warning signs on continuous-tracking strips.
Red flags include:
- Loss of variability or a flat baseline heart rate, which can show a lack of normal respiratory and nervous system functions;
- Decelerations in the baby’s heart rate that drop and linger after a contraction has ended;
- Abnormal tracing or abnormal patterns signaling fetal distress, and
- Prolonged decelerations that last for minutes.
Warning signs can be key in recognizing fetal distress, including oxygen flow and heart rate. These strips should be checked frequently by nurses or doctors and are often “live-streamed” to the nurses’ station for continuous observation. When a medical provider inadequately monitors the strips or fails to do so altogether, it can lead to labor and delivery errors.
So, How Do You Know If You Have a Case?
If healthcare providers failed to recognize or respond to concerning fetal heart rate patterns during labor, you may have a birth injury lawsuit in Maryland. To succeed, you generally must prove four key elements: duty of care, breach, causation, and damages.
Duty of Care
Your healthcare team owed you and your baby a duty to provide care consistent with accepted medical standards. This duty generally exists once a provider agrees to oversee your labor and delivery.
Breach of the Standard of Care
You must show that your providers failed to act as reasonably competent medical professionals would have under similar circumstances. In fetal monitoring cases, this may include failing to recognize abnormal fetal heart rate tracings, delaying intervention, or not responding appropriately to signs of fetal distress.
Causation
You must also prove that the provider’s failure to properly interpret or respond to the fetal monitor directly caused or contributed to your child’s injury. Establishing this connection often requires medical expert testimony.
Damages
Finally, you must show that the negligence resulted in measurable harm. In birth injury cases, damages may include ongoing medical care, therapy, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, and other physical, emotional, or financial losses.
An experienced birth injury attorney can evaluate the medical records, consult qualified experts, and determine whether the evidence supports fetal monitoring negligence.
No Pressure. No Obligation.
This Isn’t About Blame. It’s About What Comes Next.
A lot of parents hesitate because they don’t want to accuse anyone. That’s understandable, and it isn’t what this is. Most families reach out because a child now needs therapies, equipment, or care that will stretch on for years, and someone has to answer for how that will be paid for.
You don’t have to decide anything to have a conversation. Bring the records you have, or simply what you remember about the delivery. We’ll explain how Maryland handles these claims and be straight with you about what we find, either way.
Schedule A Free ConsultationWhat Compensation Can You Seek in a Fetal Monitoring Negligence Claim?
The type and amount of compensation in these claims will vary depending on the particular facts and circumstances of the case, including the extent of the injuries.
Compensation may include:
- Medical expenses—costs for hospital care, surgeries, medications, medical equipment, and reasonably anticipated future treatment;
- Rehabilitation services—expenses for physical, occupational, speech, and other therapies needed because of the birth injury;
- Home and vehicle modifications—costs to make a home or vehicle more accessible to accommodate your child’s long-term needs;
- Loss of future earning capacity—compensation if the injury is expected to limit your child’s ability to earn income as an adult; and
- Pain and suffering—damages for your child’s physical pain, emotional distress, and reduced quality of life.
In some circumstances, parents may also have claims for losses recognized under Maryland law, including damages that may be available in connection with a wrongful death or related birth-injury claim.
Your medical malpractice lawyer can discuss with you, at length, what you might be able to recover.
Fetal Distress Malpractice Lawyers
If your child was injured during birth and you suspect warning signs were missed on the fetal monitoring strips, you need a sharp and skilled advocate. At Brockstedt Mandalas Federico LLC, we have decades of experience helping Maryland families pursue justice and compensation for their baby’s birth injury. Contact us to schedule your no-cost consultation today.
Official Legal and Other Sources
To ensure the accuracy and clarity of this page, we referenced official legal resources during the content development process:
- Interpretation of the Electronic Fetal Heart Rate During Labor
- Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings Code Section 5-109
- Maryland Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings. §§ 3-2A-01
- Maryland Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 3-2A-04
- Maryland Health Care Decisions Act
Phil Federico is a partner at Brockstedt Mandalas Federico where he helps lead the Mass Tort / Class Action and Environmental Law practices, transitioning into these areas after beginning his career as a medical malpractice litigator.
Phil has led and been involved in historic and groundbreaking litigation with verdicts and settlements exceeding one billion dollars.