What you need to know about birth injury

Sometimes during childbirth, the baby may incur an injury that is related to the birth process. While a number of factors, for example the baby's size or position during labor and delivery, can contribute to such an injury, other birth injuries can be the result of medical negligence. Parents may not notice symptoms that indicate possible birth injury for months or years. The obstetrician and the baby's treating physicians often tell parents that the cause of the injury is unknown or genetic or the result of an infection or other problem earlier during the pregnancy, when, in fact, the cause is malpractice.

Often, parents presume that injuries to their child during birth are birth defects that could not be avoided. This may not be the case. Instead, these injuries may be the result of negligence on the part of healthcare practitioners including the obstetrician and pediatrician, and obstetric and newborn nursery nurses.

What are common birth injuries that may be linked to malpractice?

Commonly encountered injuries that may occur because of medical negligence are cerebral palsy (brain damage) and Erb's Palsy (brachial plexus injury, palsy or paralysis).

Cerebral palsy (CP) describes a group of neurologic (brain) disorders. CP effects the communication between the brain and the muscles, causing a permanent state of uncoordinated movement, posturing and spasticity. Cerebral palsy may result from events that decrease the flow of blood or oxygen to the placenta, such as pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes or fetal distress which is improperly managed. Cerebral palsy may also result from neonatal hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) in the newborn which is not properly diagnosed and treated, and from negligence in diagnosing and treating other conditions in the newborn.

A brachial plexus injury (Erb's Palsy) is a nerve injury often associated with a large (macrosomic) baby, gestational diabetes or shoulder dystocia. The nerves that are damaged control muscles in the shoulder, arm, or hand. Any or all of these muscles may be completely or partially paralyzed.

Other indicators of injury can include the following:

• Low Apgar score (usually less than 7),
• Your child is floppy, pale or blue after birth, or does not nurse vigorously,
• Your child has seizures and neurological problems in the first days after birth.

How do I know whether negligence is a possibility?

Birth injury as the result of negligence often occurs in the following circumstances

• Not recognizing or properly responding to fetal distress,
• Allowing the pregnancy to go beyond 41 weeks without proper testing, or 42 weeks in any event,
• Failing to act on changes in the mother's condition during pregnancy,
• Causing or failing to respond to the umbilical cord being entrapped or compressed,
• Misuse of a vacuum extractor or forceps,
• Misuse of the labor-stimulating drug Pitocin (Oxytocin),
• Delay in ordering or performing a C-section,
• Poor resuscitation and newborn care after birth.

What do I need to do to prove negligence?

We are usually able to determine if your child's injury may be due to medical malpractice by simply talking with you about what happened. If we are suspicious that doctors or nurses may have been negligent and failed to meet the standard of care, we will review medical records from during your pregnancy and delivery for indications of whether healthcare providers may have committed malpractice. Our expertise in both medicine and law will help determine whether your child's birth injury is due to negligent care.

If our analysis shows that your child's injury was the result of negligence on the part of any healthcare provider, we are able to represent you and your child in taking legal action to help pay for your child's past and future medical care, and to compensate you and your child otherwise as allowed by law, no matter where you may reside or where malpractice occurred.

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