Giving birth is a key element of the miracle of life, but it’s also an incredibly physical experience that is quite frankly traumatic for everyone involved. The mother goes through a combination of cramps and stretching that cannot be compared to any other experience and the baby is transported from their cushy floating home through a cramped channel into bright lights and activity. It’s no wonder both mother and child are usually crying at the end of the ordeal, no matter how magical they will feel in a few minutes.
Trusting Your Doctors
During this time, both parents are deeply wrapped up in getting through the birth and are relying entirely on the medical staff to know what to do and make the right decisions for both mother and child. If you are a new parent or a worried parent-to-be, you trust your doctors and nurses to take care of you and to give you advice on how to take care of yourself and your baby. They are supposed to be the experts who know whether or not you need a C-Section, whether or not you need painkillers, an epidural, or if special tools are needed to separate you and the baby safely.
The Frequency of Birth Injuries.
But sometimes it doesn’t work out. Every year, thousands of babies are born with an injury they could have avoided if the mother’s medical team was on the ball. Sometimes the injury is caused simply by missing a sign of infant distress and in others, a birth injury can be caused by active misuse of extraction methods. However, no matter what the circumstances, it is always the doctor’s responsibility to make sure your baby is okay and be aware of the risks they may have to contend with based on the baby’s health at birth.
It’s been found that approximately 8 out of every 1,000 babies born sustains an injury from birth. Some of these injuries fade after a few weeks while others could cause your infant permanent life-long damage. Here are seven of the most common birth injuries that can be caused by medical negligence.
Brain Damage from Oxygen Deprivation
Just like all humans, babies need a constant flow of oxygenated blood to the brain which means they need to be supplied oxygen one way or another. In the womb, babies breath amniotic fluid which is why they have to do a little coughing and crying after ‘surfacing’ into the open air. However, if at any point the baby is neither breathing amniotic fluid nor air, their brains can be critically deprived. Oxygen deprivation can cause brain damage even in full-grown adults but it can be devastating in infants who are oxygen-deprived during birth because it can damage them for the rest of their lives.
The most common cause of oxygen deprivation during birth is the umbilical cord wrapping around the baby’s throat. Doctors must watch for this and release the baby from the loop or remedy any other situation that may prevent them from breathing.
Symptoms of brain damage caused by birth oxygen deprivation include seizures, behavioral and focus problems in childhood, and a chance of cerebral palsy, autism, and ADHD.
Brain Damage from Low Blood Flow
It is the doctor’s responsibility to monitor the baby’s life signs and make sure that they are alright all the way out the birth canal. Unfortunately, there are a great many things that can go wrong during a birth that can restrict the baby’s blood flow. The umbilical cord is the best-known hazard but the baby can also get into a bad position at any point in the journey. The mother’s own blood flow may also play a part and preeclampsia can lead to restricted blood flow to the baby.
However, there are medical remedies for restricted blood flow to the baby including treatment for the mother. Brain damage caused reduced blood flow and oxygen are often caused by doctors failing to notice signs of the infant’s distress. Even if the cause is something completely natural, they should be aware of the problem and working to solve it for both mother and child.
Brachial Palsy Injuries – Damage to the Neck and Shoulders
When a baby comes out of the birth passage, one of the trickiest points is getting their shoulders through safely. Too much pulling, scrunching, or twisting can leave them with long-term damage in the family of Brachial plexus palsy, sometimes known as Erb’s Palsy. This means that there are a large number of ways for a baby to get brachial palsy injuries based on how they come through or how the doctor tries to help the baby through.
The brachial plexus is a bundle of nerves that spread from the neck throughout the upper body. Pulling on or over-manipulating the baby can wrench their shoulders that can cause pain along with temporary or permanent paralysis. Rough use of extraction implements can also cause brachial palsy injuries.
Delivery Fractures
Known by many names for specific locations, bone fractures that occur during delivery are also a common type of birth injury. This is most likely in babies with naturally weak bones but any infant can get delivery fractures as the result of rough birthing procedures. Fractures are often related to the use of forceps during birth but they do happen when doctors choose not to use forceps and directly manipulate the baby instead.
Clavical or collarbone fractures are the most common as the baby may be pulled on too hard during extraction. This is, unfortunately, most common when trying to correct an infant in the dangerous breach position. Fractures are also more likely during any prolonged and difficult deliveries, a particular danger for first births. The good news is that baby bones heal very quickly and most infants are mended within about 10 days after delivery.
Caput Succedaneum – Caused by Vacuum Extraction
Caput Succedaneum is something that can happen to a baby’s scalp as it comes down the birth canal. Excessive irritation and pulling on the skin and damaging the scalp. It is recognized as swelling in the first few days after delivery. This condition is often the result of a prolonged difficult birth where there is a lot of travel after the amniotic sac breaks and stops supporting the baby’s head and sometimes happens inside the womb.
However, this condition is also associated with improper use of the vacuum extraction method as it puts undue stress on the baby’s scalp as it exits the birth canal. Doctors who use the vacuum method need to be aware of the baby’s state and use another approach if their scalp could be damaged. While this condition heals within a few days, it can lead to further medical problems like jaundice
Birth injuries are a difficulty humans have had to deal with since the dawn of time, but medical technology has come a long way since then. Just as you have to trust a surgeon if you go under the knife, you need to be able to trust your birthing doctor to know exactly what is best for you and the baby. If your birthing doctor or medical service fell through and resulted in birth injuries to the baby or to you, there may be a way to get the restitution you need to recover and care for your new little one. For more information or to talk to a personal injury lawyer today, please contact us. We’re always ready to help.