My child was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome; But not diagnosed prenatally, can I sue?

[cinnard]

My daughter was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, being diagnosed 1 day after birth. Unfortunately, she died a few days later. We were not informed of any problems via ultrasound. Thus, there was NO PRENATAL diagnosis. Also, during the delivery, her collar bone was broken somehow. Do we have a case to sue for medical malpractice (failure to diagnose)? Are there any other potential injury lawsuits from the facts given? Serious answers only. Thanks.

[pete]

I'm sorry for your grief but I don't off hand see how you can raise a failure to diagnose... i'm not an attorney and no next to nothing about med-mal... but it'd have to be probably gross negligence on their part - they'd have to miss something that a reasonable medical tech would not have missed. It may be something too difficult to diagnose. It sounds like something pretty tough to diagnose. Again I'm sorry for your loss. Perhaps if you spoke to an attorney to find out if you have a case you'll feel less worry about what could/should have been done.

[favian]

While I am not a medical expert by any means I doubt you will get anywhere with this. Diagnosis by ultra sound on a baby is iffy at best. Some problems do not present by ultra sound. Also babies some times get broken collar bones during a natural birth. So no I do not see a law suit here. But by all means consult a lawyer to be sure. Sorry for you loss.