There is no doubt that obstetrics carries high medical liability risk. In many countries, gynecologists-obstetricians who attend childbirths and perform complex obstetric procedures are faced with increasing malpractice insurance premiums and litigation risk. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) publishes its Survey of Professional Liability since 1983, with the objective to analyze the effect that malpractice litigation has had on the practice of obstetrics and gynecology in the United States1. According to the 2003 ACOG survey, 76.3% of the members who answered the questionnaire have been involved in a lawsuit at least once in their professional career; gynecologists/obstetricians have been sued a total of 2.64 times per individual over the course of their careers1,2. In the 2006 ACOG Survey, 89% of respondents indicated that they had been sued during their careers. The average number of claims per obstetrician was 2.6 (3). The ACOG’s 2009 Survey on Professional Liability showed that nearly 91% of gynecologists/obstetricians had experienced at least one liability claim filed against them during their professional careers, with an average of 2.69 claims per physician. In 2009, 62% percent of the total reported claims were for obstetric care as opposed to gynecology, the same as in the 2006 Survey3,4. In the 2003 ACOG survey, fetal monitoring, neurologically impaired children, neonatal death, shoulder dystocia, uterine rupture, and “decision-to-incision” time were identified as clinical factors frequently present in obstetric malpractice cases1. In both 2006 and 2009 Surveys the reasons for claim were neurologically impaired infant (in 31% of cases in both Surveys), stillbirth/neonatal death (with 16 % of cases in both Surveys), and delay or failure in diagnosis (in 11% of cases in 2009 vs. 14% in 2006)3,4. In all the Surveys, neurological impair is the leading cause of the reasons for liability claim, with the cerebral palsy being the most serious damage. The possible etiologies have been discussed for years, and although the damage to neural tissue is undebatable, there is still no agreement upon the timing of the damage. Some authors think that 90% of the cases of cerebral palsy are not due to intrapartum events, while in the opinion of others most of the devastating events occurred in the perinatal period5,6. It is still impossible to firmly determine in each single case whether the hypoxic insult has developed during delivery, in the first few hours after birth, or was already present before the labor began, as a consequence of long lasting hypoxia during pregnancy. Careful gross and histopathological examination of the placenta in chosen cases can elucidate the events that occurred some time before labor, and help to connect and reconstruct the course of disease7,8.

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