I think that the filling of a lawsuit is appropriately in the public domain and worthy of discussion in the news. My only quibble with the coverage was exactly what is wrong with the baby, and what kind of care is required in the future. A second reading of the article shows it is extremely vague about the actual injury.

Hopefully the VA's coverage will prompt defense attorneys to provide more than the knee jerk "no comment" reaction when probed -- the points raised by Dr. Vaughan would have had great impact if raised by the doctor's defense team and incorporated in the body of the article.

An interesting follow up article would be to explore whether doctors' must accept any patient or if they can discharge a patient in the midst of a procedure if they fail to follow advice.

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I, too, used an OB/GYN from the Victoria Women's Clinic to deliver all 4 of my children. My second was stillborn with complications towards the end of my pregnancy. I never thought of sueing and use the same doctor to this day. Sometimes we might need to just be thankful that the child is alive and as healthy as possible. It could have been much worse.Prayers being sent up for the mom, child and doctor here.

What this article does not disclose is that this mother had decisions long before it came to her birth.
She made a decision to have a baby.
She made this decision even though she was not married.
She made a decision in what she included in her diet to grow this baby each day.
She made a decision whether or not to exercise for her and her baby's health during her pregnancy.
She made a decision to choose Medicaid or Private insurance to cover the costs of this pregnancy.
She made a decision in what kind of a health care provider would attend her birth.
She made a decision to walk into the hospital to give birth to her baby.
She made the decision whether to take a passive role in her care and leave all decisions to someone else or make her own decisions concerning herself and her baby.
If she pushed her baby while flat on her back in stirrups, she made the decision that constricted her pelvic outlet rather than opening it in a squatting or upright position.
Ultimately she made all the decisions leading up to the moment her child's head was born and his shoulders were unable to follow.

While I personally would not have made the same choices this woman has made it WAS HER RIGHT TO DO SO. Women need to quit blaming everyone else for what goes wrong in their pregnancy and birth. We have the right to choose a surgeon, midwife, doula, or any other person to be a part of our birth team. We have the right to educate ourselves and find what is best for our bodies and our babies.
We also have the right to leave all decisions concerning our care to someone else, we must however be prepared for the consequences.

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Following her logic she should sue her parents for her Diabetes.

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"""The evidence from the literature on shoulder dystocia shows clearly that:

(1) Shoulder dystocia cannot be predicted with any degree of accuracy and

(2) Shoulder dystocia cannot be prevented by any specific strategies or maneuvers.

It is often said -- especially in court rooms -- that traction should never be applied to the fetal head during delivery. This is certainly not the case -- and is absolutely not the standard of care practiced by obstetricians across the United States. Such assisting of delivery of the head is necessary and is approved obstetrical practice as can be seen in any textbook of obstetrics.""""
---Shoulder Dystocia
Copyright © 2004-2009 Dr. Henry Lerner

Maybe more info should be given by the author.

Thank you VA for running this article. Even after tort reform, there is still lawsuit abuse. This is a classic example of what is wrong with our system.

If I am reading it right, we have an unwed mother that is overweight and diabetic. It is a safe bet that she provided poor prenatal care to her child. Thanks to Medicaid, she probably didn't pay a dime for this delivery. Her only real contribution to this situation is getting knocked up. Therefore, according to the attorny, she can have no responsibility, everything has to be the doctor's fault!

The irony is, any health care costs that the kid might have is currently being paid for by Medicaid. So what future costs is she going to have?

The doctor was put into a difficult situation due to Ms. Flores' laundery list of bad personal decisions. At some point, Ms. Flores needs to look in the mirror and accept responisiblity. In the meantime, as others have pointed out, this is why health care costs continue to skyrocket.

Isn't the statute of limitations up? It's been over 2 years. This lady will have a really hard time winning this case, but the Dr.'s insurance company will probably just give this woman some money & settle it. You're probably right, CatGirl. It probably did take her this long to find an attorney to take her case.

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I actually used Dr Seiler as my ob for many years until recently when I needed to see a specialist in Houston and while I am choosing to not return back under her care I do not believe that she would be that careless with the delivery of a baby. If there were any type of issues with this baby they would have shown up long before the age of 2. This woman is the one who chose not to eat a well balanced diet to help maintain a healthy wait during her pregnancy and chose to have an epidural. They are not forced on you. Pregnancy and childbirth are not easy and problems do come up even in the most healthy of pregnancies. This woman is obviously looking for a payday and has no sense of right and wrong. People like her is the reason health care has become so expensive and it is a shame.

Doesn't mention if this child has any disabilities related to delivery? Shoulder dystocia is not a diagnosis just a term meaning the shoulders get hung up in the birth canal. And it can have nothing to do with the weight of the infant.

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