Labor and Delivery: Court Says Nurse Should Not Apply Fundal Pressure If Shoulder Dystocia Is Present
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
July 1997
Quick Summary: The court when the fetus presents with shoulder dystocia a nurse must recognize the risks of using fundal pressure to expedite delivery. The delivery in this case was complicated by the mother’s gestational diabetes, which made for a large (nearly 10 lbs.) fetus.
The Court of Appeal of Louisiana, however, did not offer any guidance about what a nurse is expected to do when directed by the physician to apply fundal pressure during the heat of a complicated delivery.
Hollingsworth vs. Bowers, 690 So. 2d 825 (La. App., 1996).