Losing a wife, daughter, partner, or mother during pregnancy or after giving birth is devastating. It can be even harder when the family is left wondering whether warning signs were missed or treatment came too late. A maternal death lawyer in Bridgewater can investigate the medical care that was provided and determine whether medical negligence contributed to the loss.
At O’Connor, Parsons, Lane & Noble, we bring more than 200 years of combined experience to serious medical malpractice cases.
A Bridgewater medical malpractice lawyer from our firm can review the records, speak with medical experts, and help your family understand its legal options. We offer free consultations, so there is no cost to have that first conversation with us.
When Maternal Death May Be Medical Malpractice
A maternal death doesn’t automatically mean someone made a medical mistake. Pregnancy and childbirth can involve serious complications even when healthcare providers follow accepted medical standards.
But there are also situations where doctors, nurses, or other members of the medical team don’t recognize a dangerous condition or respond quickly enough.
A Bridgewater maternal death attorney can investigate whether providers failed to diagnose or properly treat conditions such as:
- Postpartum hemorrhage: Severe bleeding after delivery can become life-threatening and may require immediate treatment.
- Blood clots: A clot can lead to a pulmonary embolism, which can become fatal without prompt diagnosis and emergency care.
- High blood pressure: Pregnancy-induced hypertension and related conditions can create serious risks before and after delivery.
- Placental problems: Placental abruption can cause dangerous bleeding and may require an emergency delivery.
- Anesthesia complications: Errors involving anesthesia during labor and delivery or Cesarean sections can cause severe injury or death.
- Infections: An infection that isn’t recognized and treated may become increasingly dangerous after childbirth.
Sometimes the problem isn’t one dramatic mistake. It may be several smaller failures, delayed decisions, or symptoms that weren’t taken seriously until the mother’s condition became critical.
We Will Aim to Uncover Preventable Medical Errors
The New Jersey Department of Health takes maternal mortality seriously. Its Maternal Mortality Review Committee reviews pregnancy-associated deaths throughout the state to identify contributing factors and opportunities for prevention.
A finding that a death could have been prevented doesn’t automatically mean the medical team was negligent. What matters in a malpractice case is what happened during the patient’s care. We’ll look closely at the decisions that were made and determine whether important warning signs were missed or different care could have prevented the death.
A maternal death lawyer in Bridgewater can look beyond the final hours of a patient’s life. Prenatal care, previous emergency room visits, medication, testing, delivery complications, and care after discharge may all help explain what went wrong.
Understanding Maternal Mortality and Pregnancy-Related Death
You may hear terms like “maternal mortality” and “pregnancy-related death” used to describe the same thing, but there are important differences between them. In New Jersey, the Maternal Mortality Review Committee looks at deaths that happen during pregnancy as well as those occurring within a year after the pregnancy ends, regardless of what caused the death.
A death during childbirth may be connected to severe bleeding, a pulmonary embolism, anesthesia complications, infection, or another obstetric emergency. In other cases, a patient may survive labor and delivery but develop a serious condition days or weeks later.
This is one reason medical records are so important. Hospital charts, healthcare records, test results, medication records, imaging, and notes from obstetricians and gynecologists (OB/GYNs) can help establish what symptoms were present and how the medical team responded.
Bringing a Wrongful Death Claim After Medical Negligence
When medical malpractice results in a patient’s death, New Jersey law may allow certain claims to be pursued. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:31-2, a wrongful death action is generally brought by an administrator ad prosequendum or administrator of the person who died.
If the person had a probated will, the qualifying executor or administrator with the will annexed may bring the action instead.
There are also strict time limits. New Jersey law generally provides a two-year statute of limitations for a wrongful death lawsuit, although the specific deadline and claims available can depend on the circumstances. Families shouldn’t wait until the end of that period to speak with an attorney. Medical malpractice litigation takes time to investigate and prepare.
A wrongful death lawsuit arising from medical negligence may involve damages for financial losses suffered by surviving family members.
New Jersey law also addresses hospital, medical, funeral, and burial expenses in wrongful death and survival actions. What can actually be recovered depends on the claims and facts involved.
How We Investigate Maternal Death Cases
Families don’t come to us with a neatly organized malpractice case. More often, they come with questions. They may have been told that a complication was unavoidable, yet something about the explanation doesn’t sit right.
Maybe severe bleeding continued for too long. Maybe symptoms of a blood clot weren’t investigated. Maybe the patient’s condition changed quickly after delivery, and nobody seemed prepared.
We’ll start by understanding what happened. That can mean reviewing prenatal and hospital records, labor and delivery records, medication history, test results, and records from later medical care. Medical experts may then help determine whether the treatment met accepted medical standards and whether different care could have changed the outcome.
Speak With Our Bridgewater Maternal Death Attorneys
If your family has lost someone during pregnancy, childbirth, or the postpartum period, you don’t have to know whether malpractice occurred before calling us.
That’s part of what we’re here to investigate. A maternal death lawyer in Bridgewater can listen to what happened, review the available evidence, and explain whether pursuing a civil action may be appropriate.
O’Connor, Parsons, Lane & Noble takes a collaborative approach to complex medical malpractice cases. Our founding attorneys previously worked on the defense side, giving our team valuable insight into how hospitals, medical professionals, and insurance companies may respond when a claim is made.
Contact us for a free, confidential consultation. We’ll talk through what happened, answer your questions about the legal process, and determine what the next step should be for your family.