Sun Goes Down, Birthing Risks Go Up

When a woman goes into labor is hardly something that can be controlled.  Often it happens at the most inopportune time.  We have all heard at least one story of a pregnant woman traversing a snowstorm, hailing a cab, or rushing to the hospital in the middle of the night.

As much as the timing of going into labor can catch a mother to be with her guard down, it can also catch hospital staff when it is down.  A recent study of 700,000 births indicates that complications are much more likely at night then during the day.  Specifically, the study indicates that children born between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. were 32 to 47 percent more likely to die than children born during the day. 

There are many possible explanations as to why birth risks go up at night.  For example, one explanation is that night shifts often have fewer senior doctors and staff leaving less experienced medical professionals to handle emergencies.  Another explanation is that overnight staff is more fatigued than their daytime counterparts.
 
Under either explanation, the result is that mothers and their newborns are in more danger when born at night than during the day because of the hospital and its staff.  Since pregnant women can not choose when they go into labor, it is unfair that their treatment, and that of their newborns, are decided by whether the borth happens during the day or night.

To learn more about how these cases work, I encourage you to explore my website http://www.oginski-law.com. If you have legal questions, and I urge you to pick up the phone and call me at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at lawmed10@yahoo.com. I welcome your call.