Sometimes an infant suffers brain damage during the birthing process, which can result in lifelong medical problems. Some conditions that arise from brain injury during birth include:
- Cerebral palsy
- Autism
- Hydrocephalus
- Down syndrome
- Epilepsy
- Behavior and language disorders
- Reading difficulties
Brain injuries can occur during labor or delivery and are sometimes the result of medical malpractice. Medical errors during the birthing process that can cause an infant to suffer brain damage include but are not limited to:
- Using forceps at the wrong stage of labor
- Improperly using vacuum extractors
- Failing to treat jaundice, resulting in a form of brain damage known as kernicterus
- Ordering a cesarean section (C-section) too late
- Failing to properly treat or anticipate bleeding
- Delaying the delivery of a large baby
- Failing to properly resuscitate a baby or not acting quickly enough
- Administering drugs to the mother without proper monitoring, or making mistakes in dosage or delivery of a drug
An experienced cerebral palsy attorney can help parents determine whether their child’s birth trauma possibly resulted from a medical mistake or negligence and whether they may be entitled to compensation for their child’s brain injury.
Several factors increase the likelihood that an infant will suffer a birth-related brain injury, including:
- Infants that are large for their gestational age
- Pregnancies with intrauterine growth retardation
- Preterm deliveries
- Vaginal deliveries in which the baby is in a breech position
- Pregnancies involving multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.)
Although the overall risk of birth injury has decreased significantly over the past few decades, thanks to improvements in technology and prenatal care, some infants still sustain a brain injury during birth, especially in situations where medical malpractice occurs. In fact, Barry Bialek, senior contributing editor for CoverMD, identified birth trauma as one of the top ten most expensive medical errors in the United States. As an example of this type of expensive medical error, Bialek describes a situation in which an infant suffered brain damage after a nurse administered Pitocin to the mother when her labor slowed without paying close attention to the monitor. By the time the nurse noticed the mother’s contractions had started piling up and an emergency C-section was performed, it was already too late. The woman’s son had suffered a condition known as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), or a lack of oxygen to the brain, which left him severely brain damaged. A delayed C-section is one cause of HIE, with other causes including prolonged labor or delivery and severely reduced blood pressure in the mother or fetus.
Parents who believe their child’s birth defect may have resulted from medical malpractice can contact a qualified cerebral palsy lawyer to discuss whether cause may exist for a birth injury lawsuit.
