Attorneys obtained a finding of no negligence after a 3 week trial seeking damages for death of a viable fetus and for emotional distress secondary to placental abruption following a motor vehicle accident.  The 32 week pregnant mother collided with a tractor trailer which had run a stop sign.  Plaintiff claimed that electronic fetal monitoring should have been instituted in the trauma bay, would have shown fetal distress, which would have prompted an emergency c-section. No obstetrician performed any exam of the mother until she came up to L&D, three hours after arrival.  By that time, the mother was cleared and sent to Labor and Delivery for monitoring, and it was found there was no longer a fetal heart rate.  The defense was that ATLS and ACOG guidelines require that life-threatening injuries to mother be first ruled out and/or addressed adequately, or mother and fetus are both at risk to die.  There was a dispute over whether mother's injuries were life-threatening enough to delay fetal monitoring.  Mother suffers from a legitimate case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depression, and more than 3 years after the loss is under active psychiatric treatment.