An anembryonic pregnancy misdiagnosis is medical negligence in Ireland but your entitlement to injury compensation will depend on several factors.
An anembryonic pregnancy occurs during the early stages of pregnancy when a fertilised egg implants in the uterus, but an embryo fails to develop. This often occurs when there are too many or too few chromosomes during fertilisation, and rather than the cells developing into an embryo, a placenta and membranes, only the placenta and membranes develop – fooling the body into believing it is still pregnant, because pregnancy hormones are still being produced which prevent a miscarriage.
The first suggestions of an anembryonic pregnancy (often called a “blighted ovum”) occur during an expectant mother´s first ultrasound – when the ultrasound fails to reveal an embryo within the gestational sac. If the diagnosis of an anembryonic pregnancy is confirmed, the patient will be given the option of a dilation and curettage procedure to remove the tissue from inside the uterus, administered methotrexate to induce a miscarriage, or allowed to wait until a miscarriage occurs naturally.
The Misdiagnosis of an Anembryonic Pregnancy
An anembryonic pregnancy misdiagnosis can occur in many different circumstances. Most commonly an expectant mother is misdiagnosed with an anembryonic pregnancy because she has a tilted ovum, hiding the living embryo from the view of the ultrasound. Embryos in women with a tilted uterus often appear one to two weeks behind, giving the impression that the embryo has died or miscarried.
The ultrasound machine used for the scan may be faulty, or the person operating the scan may not have sufficient experience or training to detect a foetal heartbeat when the foetus is apparently underdeveloped. Indeed, in 2011, the Health Service Executive had to apologise to twenty-four women – twenty-two of whom who were diagnosed as having miscarried, and then went on to have perfectly healthy children (the remaining two only miscarried after undergoing medical procedures to remove the foetus).
Is an Anembryonic Pregnancy Misdiagnosis Medical Negligence in Ireland?
An anembryonic pregnancy misdiagnosis is medical negligence in Ireland when a medical practitioner has demonstrated a poor professional performance – whether a lack of skill or a failure to apply that skill. Even when the anembryonic pregnancy misdiagnosis is due to a faulty ultrasound machine, the medical practitioner should have sought a second opinion or second scan before misdiagnosing an anembryonic pregnancy.
Whether or not you can claim compensation for an anembryonic pregnancy misdiagnosis depends on what happens after the misdiagnosis. If you have been misdiagnosed with an anembryonic pregnancy – and do not undergo any procedures to remove the foetus or induce a miscarriage – and subsequently a foetal heartbeat is discovered and you ultimately give birth to a healthy child, no loss or injury has occurred and you will not be eligible for compensation for an anembryonic pregnancy misdiagnosis.
If you are misdiagnosed with an anembryonic pregnancy and do undergo a procedure to miscarry the foetus – and it is subsequently discovered that there was a fault with the ultrasound or that a medical practitioner has made similar misdiagnoses before, and that you may have been carrying a healthy embryo – it may be possible to claim for anembryonic pregnancy misdiagnosis compensation.
In order for the claim to be successful, it will have to be shown that on the balance of probabilities you would have delivered a healthy child and that the misdiagnosis was the reason for you agreeing to the termination of the pregnancy. In this scenario, you will only be able to claim for your emotional distress. The law in Ireland states that a plaintiff´s right to compensation only comes into existence when they are born, and therefore you will be unable to claim compensation for the wrongful death of your child.