Despite falling out of favor in recent years, forceps-assisted deliveries may actually be safer for newborns than C-sections and vacuums, according to a recent study. C-sections are being performed in around one-third of all births, according to 2007 statistics. That is compared to 21 percent a decade before. Vacuums are being used far more frequently in difficult births as well. The reason for the increase in the use of methods other than forceps in difficult births is not easy to determine, as statistics do not show that these other methods are safer, according to Dr. Erika F. Werner, at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Werner is the head of a study using data on more than 400,000 births to first-time moms. The study found that those delivered with forceps were 45 percent less likely to suffer a seizure than those born via vacuum pump or C-section. Seizures at birth…
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Forceps Safer Than Vacuums Or C-Sections?
December 15, 2011Operating Room Fire Burns Woman’s Face
December 13, 2011What was supposed to be a routine outpatient surgery for a Florida woman became a nightmare when a flash fire burned her face and neck. 29-year-old Kim Grice was going through surgery to remove some growths from her head, surgery that should have been routine and uneventful. Grice’s mother, Ann, was waiting in the hospital lobby for her daughter to when emergency crews and the fire department showed up. The explanation by hospital staff that her daughter’s face had caught fire was not comforting to Ann. “I am in shock,” Ann said. “This is not what happens with routine outpatient surgery.” Operating room fires are not as rare as one would think. According to experts, at least 650 fires happen in operating rooms around the country each year. It is enough of a problem that the FDA is stepping in to increase safety awareness. Launching a new initiative, the government…
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Doctor’s Haste Leaves Girl’s Arm Paralyzed
December 9, 2011A Douglas County, Nebraska jury determined that an obstetrician with Mid-City OB-GYN of Omaha was responsible for a birth injury that left a little girl without the use of her left arm. The jury awarded the now 3-year-old Chaylee Bentzinger-Hill $1.8 million for the ripped and ruptured nerves that occurred during her June 2008 delivery. According to Joe Cullan, the attorney for Chaylee’s parents, Dr. Ann Sijulin used a vacuum to help the infant through the birth canal. The baby’s shoulder became stuck behind her mother’s pelvic bone, and the doctor pulled down on the baby’s head to get her through, which led to severe nerve damage. “She panicked and she pulled,” Cullan said. “What you’re never, ever supposed to do is pull downward on the baby’s head. This case shows why. Three nerves were ripped out and two nerves were ruptured in half.” Sijulin’s attorney, Thomas Shomaker, said he…
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