Maternal infections during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, or lifelong complications. While the risk factors present in any individual pregnancy will vary, medical professionals participating in maternal care generally have a responsibility to watch for, and appropriately address, any signs of an infection during pregnancy. If your pregnancy, or your baby, has been affected by an infection that was not properly diagnosed and treated, you may have legal recourse for pursuing a medical negligence claim. Reach out to an understanding and experienced New Mexico medical injury lawyer with Erin Marshall Law to learn more. Call 505-218-9949 today.
What Is Medical Negligence?
Medical negligence is in many respects similar to the concept of negligence applied in other types of cases that fall under the broad umbrella of civil torts law, but the nature of the relationship between healthcare professionals and their patients tends to impose higher expectations on the duty of care. The American Bar Association (ABA) explains that negligence by an individual who works as a professional in a health care setting may be considered medical malpractice, a term that highlights the specificities of the relationship between patients and the professionals they entrust with their wellbeing – and, in the case of maternity care, with the wellbeing of their unborn children.
Identifying medical malpractice can often be difficult. Lacking specialized medical knowledge, a patient may suffer adverse effects without having a clear method for determining whether the outcomes they have experienced are the result of medical negligence or simple misfortune. Some women who have experienced infections during pregnancy even blame themselves, despite lacking the specialized knowledge they would have needed to inform their decisions, before and during pregnancy.
Medical Negligence and Standard of Care
Because determinations of medical negligence are based on deviations from the standard of practice, whenever there is a suspicion of medical malpractice it is important to establish clearly what that standard of care is, relative to the specifics of the situation. An important factor that can sometimes complicate these discussions in potential malpractice cases is that legal professionals and medical professionals sometimes use the term “standard of care” in slightly different ways, and may or may not explicitly distinguish between the standard of care and the related concept of a standard of practice, also frequently used in conversations regarding the possibility of medical negligence. Generally, the standard of practice directly references the conduct of the individual professional, whereas the standard of care is applied to the treatment of the patient.
Differentiating Between Standard of Practice and Standard of Care
In other words: The standard of practice is to handle each patient’s case according to the standard of care for his or her condition, but there can often be disagreement about the most appropriate treatment for a specific condition. Even more frequently, there may be room for disagreement among medical professionals regarding the balance of risks vs. benefits for treating one condition, such as an infection, in light of other circumstances present in a specific case, such as pregnancy. These decisions often involve a degree of professional judgment, and as long as the health care provider can show that his or her decisions with respect to a particular case fell within the range of generally accepted medical guidance, then the medical professional will often be considered to have adhered to the standard of practice – even if a patient has suffered significant harm as a result of the professional’s decisions.
The Role of Subject Matter Experts in Establishing the Standard of Practice
Discussing the details of your experience with an attorney who focuses on medical injury law may help you to better understand how the legal frameworks regarding standard of practice vs. standard of care can affect whether you have a strong case for medical negligence based on how a healthcare provider handled an infection during your pregnancy. Owing to the complexities of determining the standard of care, however, beyond the initial case evaluation an attorney with Erin Marshall Law will often consult with outside experts whose medical practice involves handling conditions similar to those experienced by our client. One reason why individuals seeking to pursue medical malpractice cases arising from the inappropriate management of their infections during pregnancy frequently prefer to work with experienced medical injury lawyers is that attorneys who have built a substantial practice in this area of law are often in a position to draw on professional relationships to recruit the medical expertise that may be needed to fully develop the case.
Infections that Can Be Dangerous During Pregnancy
Some infections during pregnancy, such as the common cold, do not normally cause serious problems for either the pregnant person or the developing fetus unless there are additional factors, beyond the infection itself, complicating the situation. Other maternal infections are known to have a strong correlation with issues in fetal development, or may be associated with preterm births and other potentially dangerous outcomes, such as low birth weight. In both categories, some infections are common worldwide, whereas others are rarely seen in the United States but may be a greater concern in pregnant women who have recently traveled outside the country, or who have spent time with recent international travelers. In some instances an infection may be common in some parts of the United States but not others.
Screening for Infections During Pregnancy
Generally speaking, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends routine screening during each pregnancy for infections that are common nationwide and that pose a known risk of complications for the mother or fetus. A physician may recommend additional screening for infections that are less common if they are associated with adverse outcomes and there is reason to suspect that the pregnant person has been exposed. Similarly, if a pregnancy is considered to be high-risk then a health care provider may recommend testing and potentially treatment even for infections that are not typically considered dangerous, as a precaution.
Routine Screenings Recommended for All Pregnancies
Some of the infections for which the CDC recommends screening during each pregnancy include:
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
- Hepatitis B (HBV)
- Hepatitis C (HCV)
- Syphilis
Identifying active infections in order to implement an appropriate treatment protocol is an important part of standard prenatal care.
Screening for Highly Dangerous Infections
HIV is a relatively common infection overall, but because the disease is significantly less common in women than in men – with KFF reporting that women account for only about 22% of cases nationwide – if the long-term consequences of infection were less severe, routine HIV screening during pregnancy might not be recommended. Because HIV is typically fatal when left untreated, however, the standard recommendation is that HIV testing be performed during each pregnancy, even if the likelihood that an individual woman carries HIV may be small. Routine testing for HIV during pregnancy means that the mother and the maternal care team can plan ahead and take steps to prevent HIV transmission to the baby during delivery.
Syphilis, meanwhile, is a highly treatable bacterial infection that has been on the rise. Even though overall prevalence in New Mexico remains relatively low, with the CDC reporting roughly a 0.14% incidence statewide for 2023, the disease is fatal in up to 40% of infants born to mothers with untreated syphilis, according to John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Not everyone infected with syphilis shows signs right away – even infants – but babies who contract syphilis from their mothers can develop symptoms years later, including skeletal abnormalities so severe that the child’s bones fracture from carrying his or her normal childhood weight. Once the disease reaches this stage, it is essentially untreatable – so standard public health recommendations include screening every woman who becomes pregnant for syphilis as a precaution, even if she shows no symptoms and has no known exposures.
Travel and Vaccination During Pregnancy
Travel, whether during pregnancy or otherwise, places the person traveling in unfamiliar environments, many of which may involve pathogens that are novel to the traveler’s immune system, even if they are in relatively wide circulation in the area visited. International travel, in particular, often comes with a set of standard vaccine recommendations, usually tailored to the traveler’s destination, as a precautionary measure.
Many standard immunizations are safe to take during pregnancy, and consistently recommended; even if a woman does not plan on significant travel during pregnancy, she may wish to get seasonal vaccines for influenza and COVID-19 to reduce the chance of severe outcomes. Some “live” vaccines, however (those that contain live strains of a virus to “train” the body’s immune system to fight off the pathogen) can pose a substantial risk if given during pregnancy, according to the CDC. Ideally, medical professionals will make every effort to help their patients prevent, not just treat, infections during pregnancy – but weighing the risks and benefits of each preventive measure or treatment option based on the factors present in a particular case, and clearly communicating with the patient regarding the available options, is a crucial part of a health care professional’s responsibility toward a pregnant patient.
Discuss Your Concerns With a Maternal Injury Lawyer
Medical negligence in identifying and treating infections during pregnancy can take a tremendous toll on affected families. If your child’s health has suffered as a result of an infection that should have been diagnosed and treated during your pregnancy, you may be able to pursue a claim for medical malpractice to hold the negligent professional to account. Call Erin Marshall Law at 505-218-9949 today to discuss your concerns.
