Can i sue a hospital if they left part of the placenta inside of my son's mother?

Yes you can sue, because you may have a viable legal claim but the question becomes what are your damages. The medical malpractice cases I take on often must involve recoveries of at least $300,000 or more. This is because even if you can show that a hospital or physician deviated from a certain medical standard of care, the damages that can be recovered are crucial because these cases are expensive to litigate. So the question becomes did your wife suffer any complications as a result of the failure to properly remove the placenta, such as infection, or other bodily injuries that resulted in further medical care, or other economic damages caused by the condition (lost wages, future medical expenses). If she did suffer these damages there may be a worthwhile claim you can pursue. Be mindful there is a 21/2 year statute of limitations to bring such claim from the date the cause of action accrued. You should consult an attorney for more detailed information.

A retained placenta i.e. one that doesn't deliver occurs in about 1% of all live births. The greatest risk of a retained placenta is blood loss and infection. While it may have been malpractice not to make sure all of the Placenta was out the uterus, the fact that your son's mother is now fine, makes it extremely unlikely that any attorney will accept the case, because the damages are not significant.

Expanding on the other responses, even if there was negligence committed by the health care providers the case may not be have the type of damages that would justify the great amount of time and money needed to litigate a medical malpractice case. The healthcare providers' negligence is just what potentially gives the right to even bring a claim. The damages caused by the negligence is what creates the value of the case, for either settlement or a jury verdict. I often tell people to compare this to a car accident--you know the other driver may have run the red light and was negligent, but the case value is based on the injuries caused by that negligence. And, there lies the issue--how much it takes to investigate, hire expert witnesses, and litigate a medical malpractice case. Even what seems like a simple, straightforward case can still cost upwards of $50,000 in case expenses, and often more. This is not including attorneys fees, payment of any outstanding medical bills or liens from health insurance, medicare/medicaid, etc. From the practical side, there generally must be extremely serious injuries suffered where one would anticipate a very large recovery. Otherwise, after payment of all the expenses, fees, medical bills, liens, etc., there won't be much of anything left for the client--which is a pretty poor outcome in itself. The medical and insurance industry have unfortunately done a pretty good "snow job" on the public, getting people to believe that lawyers are waiting to pounce on doctors for every mistake made, regardless of how serious. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Most malpractice lawsuits involve extremely serious issues and injuries, and are far from frivolous. When I listen to doctors discuss "frivolous lawsuits" I always ask them to name two that they are personally aware of, and explain why the case was frivolous. I have not received an actual answer yet in all these years. If the mom is doing well, and just needed to stay in the hospital an extra day, there may be a case on paper but it may be very difficult to find a lawyer to take this on. I'd suggest you call several lawyers in your area, to see if you can find someone. John Wallach St. Louis, MO

It does happen in the absence of negligence plus she's ok now . Nothing worth pursuing.