Now this is interesting…a woman in St. Louis is suing a hospital and nurse for negligence in regards to the pain she was suffering at the hands of a bad pitocin IV. I’m not sure if there is any precedence for this type of thing, but from my own doula experience I know that IVs can be extremely painful.
I had one woman tell me that the IV was more painful than the contractions. Top that all off with the fact that pitocin just makes the whole thing more painful, and maybe I can see why she’s so upset. She’s also claiming that she was unable to care for her child and go about her duties after the birth due to painful after-effects of the IV-gone-bad.
She’s suing for $150,000 in damages. What is different about this I believe, is that this malpractice suit is not about something wrong with her child, but rather about something that had a negative impact on her birthing experience and her health. Many times, things that go wrong with the birth are overlooked if the baby is healthy. Maybe more women will fight for their rights in birth, but malpractice is already being a huge issue, exacerbated by these types of cases.
Radical Doula 