Joelle Matar featured on 2GB discussing medical negligence claims – 13 March 2021

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CM – Chris Smith / JM – Joelle Matar –  C1,2,3, etc – Callers 

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Listen to the podcast

Read the transcript below:

CM     I want to go to listener, Naomi’s note to us in an email – Naomi had a baby a few weeks ago – congratulations Naomi – But she had a long delivery and her baby was not breathing at birth – the baby required resuscitation. Now her little girl is in NICU. One of the doctors told her that she should have had a caesarean section. Now she wants to know if she should speak to a lawyer about this.

JM      Well congratulations Naomi and I’m sorry to hear that your baby is in the NICU, it’s definitely a traumatic time for the family. You know, they do say that you know being born is the most dangerous time in one’s life.

CM     Yeah.

JM      Because so many things can actually go wrong. Now, I’m not suggesting that something has gone wrong in this particular circumstance – I mean it may well have been fine, but at this stage – although I’d be more than happy to have a look at her obstetric notes – I’d be happy to have a look at the baby’s neonatal notes – just to get a bit of an idea of the circumstances surrounding the labour and the delivery – because that’s how really we can see whether something should have been done; whether the delivery was delayed and whether a caesarean section should have been performed. Having said all of that, and again while I am happy to take a look, we really don’t know at this stage because the complication that could arise out of a delayed birth is potentially brain damage – so it could be a brain injury. But because at this stage the baby is still in the NA – it’s a little bit too early to tell – so a lot of the times they’d have some complications in the neonatal period – things like seizures, and you know some other complications. But really, up until there’s some evidence of a brain injury – be it developmental delay or being some evidence of a brain injury on an MRI brain scan. It’s a little bit too early to tell at this stage.

CM     And Naomi should be writing down what the doctor told her verbally shouldn’t she?

JM      Absolutely – yes – of course – I mean it will be really difficult to be able to find that documented in the contemporaneous notes – I don’t think you’d ever find statements like that made on someone’s medical records. So these statements are often verbal and it will be difficult to prove that those statements were made. Having said that, if there are notes to suggest that the labour was prolonged – there was a failure to progress – there were foetal heart abnormalities on a CTG trace – if one was performed – you can kind of piece it together Chris. So you can find the evidence that you need and often you’d need an expert opinion from an obstetrician to comment on the labour and what should have been done.

CM     Joelle Matar – thank you very much for your time.

JM      Pleasure.

VOICEOVER

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