Scenario
- A GP is called to assist a women delivering the birth of her third child. After the birth the GP experienced difficulty in removing the placenta from the woman’s uterus. The GP had cut through the women’s labia in order to deliver the child and this caused severe bleeding. The GP tried to remove the placenta by hand but failed. The plaintiff’s husband saw that his wife was in great pain so he asked the GP to call the specialist physician who practiced upstairs. The GP refused to do so and said that he ‘was not a monkey’. He still failed to withdraw the placenta and eventually did call the specialist physician. The specialist quickly and easily removed the placenta by hand, but while he was suturing the cut on her labia, the patient died from loss of blood and shock.
- Did the GP act ethically and legally? Why or why not?