Published: 7:34AM Saturday June 08, 2013 Source: Fairfax Carla Grobler, of Paraparaumu, and her daughter, Amelia Grobler Barrington, 3, who was left brain-damaged after a serious medical mishap - Source: Fairfax After winning a 3-year battle with ACC on behalf of her brain-damaged daughter, Carla Grobler feels like the war is only just beginning. In 2009, Grobler gave birth to a girl in Christchurch Hospital. Soon afterwards, the baby, named Amelia, developed seizures and was diagnosed with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy - a brain injury caused by a deprivation of oxygen. Several hours before delivery, Grobler was running a high fever. During the delivery, a doctor had difficulty turning the baby into the correct position. A caesarean section was ordered but a midwife had forgotten to inform the anaesthetist that Grobler had previously experienced problems with an epidural. This resulted in Grobler being able to feel the scalpel as the procedure began, leading to another delay in delivery while a general anaesthetic was administered. When baby Amelia finally arrived, she had to be resuscitated and soon began suffering seizures. But ACC declined Grobler's injury claim after it received medical advice that chorioamnionitis, a bacterial infection, could have been the cause of … Continue reading →

By Chelsea Conaboy / Globe Staff/ June 7, 2013 A group of Boston doctors is proposing to study an emergency treatment for brain-injured patients without obtaining the trauma victims consent, arguing that they often arrive at the hospital unconscious or without family members who can speak on their behalf. Federal law and the ethics of medical research require that patients or their surrogates be told about any risks of participating in a study and have the chance to refuse enrollment. But the law allows for an exemption in certain cases involving emergency care. This would be the first such study conducted at Boston hospitals since the US Food and Drug Administration created the rules allowing for it in 1996. Copyright 2013 Globe Newspaper Company. Get the full story with unlimited access to BostonGlobe.com. Just 99 for 4 weeks. Get Access Now Go here to see the original: Researchers look to conduct research without consent in brain injury study … Continue reading →