Can I sue the hospital

[Mocat26]

I had a miscarriage at 4-5 weeks. I went to the hospital on a Saturday I waited for 10-15 minutes to check in because the secretary thought talking on the phone about Christmas cards was more important than her job! Finally after being checked in the nurse had called me back took my weight asked me questions. I had been spotting on a Saturday and my friend had told me to go to the E.R. The nurse had took me back and said if I was to miscarry there was nothing they could do. The nurse took my blood, and was being very rude to me the whole time I was there. Once the doctor came in he said he didn't know what was causing the bleeding and sent me home for bed rest. The next day I went to the hospital and the same nurse was there and had been rude to me yet again, different doctor this time at the E.R, and same thing that happened on Saturday happened Sunday. I had called my doctor on Monday and they got me in the next day. My doctor had said that it could be my blood is not compatible with the babies blood and wondered why the E.R doctors didn't get my blood type, I also had a sonogram and there was a sac and a pulse and looked healthy. I found out 2 days later I had miscarried. I am very upset with the E.R doctors and how they did their "job" I do not feel like they had taken my problem seriously. Is this a good enough case to sue the doctors, I am not in it for the money, no amount can get my baby back. I want justice for any woman or couple that has gone through this!... Any advice?

[Mocat26]

Thanks for the honesty. Appreciate your answer.

[AnnieBrooke]

Probably you don't have a case.  Early miscarriage can't be prevented; the nurse might have been tactless but she was telling you the truth.  There is nothing a doctor can do in the ER, the clinic, or the hospital, to make an embryo stay that is fading.  The docs in the ER did not do anything contrary to best medical practices.  And if you had a sonogram and everything looked fine, no blame attaches to them.  The secretary not rushing was a shame, and the nurse telling you in a not-tactful way that early miscarriage can't be prevented is a shame.  Unfortunately 2 out of 5 pregnancies end in early miscarriage, but that is because something did not link right when the sperm met the egg, not because someone didn't fix things in the ER or at the doctor's.  The sperm meets the egg, things hook up but not all things exactly right, the embryo develops until that thing is needed, it's not there, the embryo fades.  It's very sad, but that is the commonest story.  No amount of lying in bed and drinking liquids or seeing doctors will stop a miscarriage that happens for the baby's reasons.  Very rarely, bedrest will help if someone is having uterine contractions for a different reason, but if an embryo is done developing, it goes.  You can hang by your toes from a clothesline and it will still be done.

I am sorry for your loss.  Miscarriage should happen to nobody.