Opinions please...

I've been thinking a lot lately about something. I feel like being pregnant with this baby, things are being done right this time. As far as checking the organs and stuff. I feel like with Caden, things were just overlooked. Like they did the sonograms too fast and checked him too fast and all that. A while ago, my mom was saying that we should consult a lawyer for medical malpractice. Let me tell you a short story, with the major details, and you tell me if you think it's worth a shot or not. My goal is not to get a bunch of money, or to be able to retire at age 25. My aunt said that we don't want another baby to have a missed diagnosis, or to pass away because of something that I could have prevented. I just don't know. It's kind of an ethical question.

When you're pregnant, you are supposed to have a sono around 18 weeks. This time, I was 17 weeks, 6 days. One day, no big deal (they checked the heart well). With Caden, I was 18 weeks, exactly, according to the date on the sono pics I kept, cross referenced with pregnancy calendars that show days and weeks of pregnancy. They didn't catch it with Caden, which we all know. When he was born, we were at the Birth Care Center, associated with Wesley Hospital. The pediatricians that checked him at birth said that everything was fine. They checked everything, listened to his heart, and everything was fine. The first doctor to check him was a male resident. Then the attending came in, and I remember it distinctly, because Caden was holding his head up, and she made a comment about how "is he a day old, or two months old?" and was laughing. She checked him too. Nothing.

When he was born, he was too fat to get circumcised, so we had to take him on Dec 15, at about 3 weeks old to get it done. They supposedly listened to him then, and heard nothing. It was not our regular pediatrician that did that, but a man (the attending pediatrician was a female). We weren't in the room when they snipped him, so I don't know if they checked him or not. They should have, if they didn't.

We took him in for his 6 week checkup, some time at the beginning of January 2007. Paul's mom went with me, and a female resident listened to him, saying that he sounded fine. The female attending came in a checked his hips like they do, and I remember her listening to his heart. Nothing.

From the time he was born to when he got diagnosed, he had labored breathing. To the point that he was "shrugging" with each breath. His nose was flaring and his head would bob. Well, now I know that that's a sign of heart defects, affecting the lungs. In the first two weeks of his life, he went from 9 lbs, 12 oz down to 8 lbs, 9oz (or very close to that). We had a nurse come to the house to check him when he was two weeks old, and she didn't detect anything either (that's how I know how much he lost). She said it was normal to lose a little bit of weight. Well, that's over a pound, and at the time, that was 12% of his birth weight. I don't know if that should have been a red flag or not.

He got diagnosed on a Monday (at 8 weeks old), cause over the weekend, he developed a terrible cough. Turns out it was heart failure, and his lungs were saturated, so he couldn't breathe. Well, He had an appointment scheduled for that Thursday, but I called and they were able to get him in that day. When we got to the pediatrician, the nurse checked (for the first time ever) his O2 sats. They were 74. She checked it like 3 times, and when the same female attending as last time came in, she listened to him, got a worried look, and left. They admitted us, so we went across the street to the hospital. We were there, getting treated for bronchitis, and a different resident (wow, I know) was just passing some time and asked if he could listen to him for a sec. He's the first one that ever heard the murmur. He was officially-and correctly-diagnosed later that night.

My thing is this-if someone would have caught his heart defect and he would have had surgery at two or three, even four weeks of life, then his lungs wouldn't have had a chance to get so diseased (why they thought it was bronchitis). He had his first crisis at the beginning of March because his lungs couldn't handle the increased (corrected) blood flow. If he never would have had the chance to go into heart failure at 8 weeks, then his lungs may not have diseased at all, therefore no crash, no ripping the patch back open, no heart cath, no second surgery, no resuscitation, no ECMO... yada yada yada. And who knows if his future surgeries and recoveries will be more difficult as a result of that???

What do you think? I think there's a statute of limitations, but I'm not sure what it is. I should look it up. I mean, is it even worth a consultation? My OB did everything he was supposed to, but did the sono tech screw up? Should she be held accountable? Which resident? There were 2-3 and I don't remember their names. We could find out, I'm sure. Should it be the attending, who was overseeing the residents? I just don't know. I feel like I wouldn't have had as much emotional stuff this past year and a half (and in the future) if he wouldn't have had all those complications.

I mean, who's to say he wouldn't have had any complications anyway? Maybe he would have, but maybe not. Not to mention the enormous medical bills (which have been paid for by insurance mostly). He shouldn't ever meet his lifetime maximum of 5 million, but he's already over 1 million. What if he gets a job somewhere when he's older, and that's their insurance and he can't get it cause he's over the maximum? I know, I'm projecting way too far out there, but I'm just asking.

Thanks for you input. I'm really not looking for a get-rich-quick thing. That's part of the reason I haven't done anything yet.

Thanks guys,

Ashlea