My first visit to my OBGYN's office was stressful. They had me come in sooner than usual because I was bleeding. Rather than feeling giddy at the thought of seeing my baby for the first time, I was just silently hoping that I was still pregnant and that everything would be okay.
The first thing that the receptionist did after checking me in was hand me a pamphlet and a form to sign after reading the pamphlet. I took the papers back to a chair. A brief glance at the pamphlet was all I needed. Basically, it said that if the doctor does something to cause brain or spinal or neurological injuries to your baby, you can't sue the doctor for medical malpractice. My state has a law that you can only be compensated through a specific remedy. I looked at the form I had been given. It wasn't a consent form, just a form confirming that I'd been given the pamphlet. I shoved the pamphlet in my purse without reading it and signed the form.
I didn't even know if my pregnancy was still viable, and they were already handing me papers about what would happen if the doctor squishes my baby's head with forceps when it's being born. I wish they'd have given that pamphlet to me on my way out, rather than compounding my anxiety before I even knew what was going on.
Anyway, I just found the pamphlet in my purse and read it for the first time. No big deal, now that I'm safely past my 1st trimester. The day they handed me the pamphlet, though, I just felt too much stress and sadness to read it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe Neurological Injury Compensation Act was created because lots of people were suing Ob/Gyns for problems in their kids(even until age 18 or so) that may have been caused or contributed to during labor (but the thought was also that a lot of these things are congenital- happen during pregnancy). They didn't want all the Ob/Gyns to go bankrupt and stop practicing, so they made this. On top of licensure and board costs and malpractice costs each year, non-Ob/Gyns in your state have to pay a $250 per year fee toward the fund that reimburses families that do have neurologic injuries. Ob/Gyns have to pay $5000 per year for it. I feel bad for Ob/Gyns in your state. So many have left or stopped practicing because malpractice insurance can be as high as $200,000 per year. You have to deliver tons of babies and do a lot of surgeries to even break even. Lots of them were losing money every year.
ReplyDeleteagreed. in fact, the lady who started the OBGYN practice where i go now was super popular and well respected in town. but she had to quit practicing because of med mal insurance. :(
ReplyDeletei think the law is a fine idea. i kind of knew what was up when i glanced at the pamphlet, anyway, considering the kind of stuff i studied in graduate school. i just felt really overwhelmed when they handed that information to me first off. i wanted to scream "I MIGHT NOT EVEN HAVE A BABY INSIDE ME ANYMORE! CANT WE JUST FIGURE THAT OUR FIRST, BEFORE WE DISCUSS WAYS THAT THE BIRTH CAN GO WRONG?!?!"