Electronic Fetal Monitoring: A Defense Lawyer's View.

Abstract

Electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) has been used for four decades, after its introduction without clinical trials. EFM spawned a birth injury litigation crisis centered on the myth that it predicts cerebral palsy (CP). The myth has resulted in lottery-like judgments against physicians. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and sister organizations worldwide have the power to halt EFM's clinical proliferation and the undeserved litigation verdicts against physicians unjustly blamed for causing CP. This power has been unused. If ACOG and other organizations would declare EFM unreliable, it could change the clinical standard of care and alleviate the CP-EFM malpractice lottery.