Tag Archives: brain injury
Steroids Help Reduce Preterm Infant Mortality
A newly published study has demonstrated that giving steroids to pregnant women at risk for preterm birth may boost an infant’s chance of survival and reduce the risk of serious developmental issues The study, published in the Dec. 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that the current guidelines, which suggest prenatal steroids be administered to women who are at risk for delivering between the 24th and 34th week of pregnancy, can be expanded to the 23rd week. The steroids help the infants with lung development, which increases the odds of survival and reduces the risk of brain injury. Dr. Wally Carlo, director of the division of neonatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, authored the newly published study. “When given as early as 23 weeks, prenatal or antenatal steroids reduce an infant’s risk of death and important developmental issues,” said Dr. Carlo. Currently there…
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Autism In Premature Babies Five Times More Likely
A new study on autism has demonstrated that the risk of developing autism among children who were born prematurely is five times greater than among kids born after a full-term pregnancy. The new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that five out of every 100 young adults born weighing less than four and a half pounds had autism. This is significantly higher than the estimate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that one out of every 100 eight-year-old kids has autism. The professor who led the study, Jennifer Pinto-Martin of the University of Pennsylvania, says she “was surprised”. “I knew it would be higher than the general population…but I thought the rate would be about double”, she said. Those with autism in the study also showed a higher prevalence for other psychiatric disorders, such as phobias and attention-deficit disorder. Pinto-Martin said that although her study did not…
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Posted in Autism, Birth Defects, Birth Trauma Tagged Autism, Birth Defects, birth trauma lawyer, brain injury Comments Off on Autism In Premature Babies Five Times More Likely
Forceps Cause Newborn Skull Fracture
A newborn in Ireland died a week after his birth due to a brain injury caused by forceps used in the delivery process. Claire McGovern, the baby’s mother, arrived at the National Maternity Hospital with painful contractions. She was almost 40 weeks pregnant, and doctors attempted to assist a natural birth with forceps. When the birth failed to progress, nurses took the mother upstairs to undergo a Caesarean section. Sadly, baby Daniel McGovern suffered a non-depressed fracture of the skull and a subgaleal hemorrhage of the brain, and he died a week later. Dr. Declan Keane, an obstetrician at the hospital, reported that he had “no doubt the fracture was most probably due to forceps.” He also commented that the entire delivery process would be improved if the delivery rooms were on the same floor as the operating rooms. The hospital applied for funding to remedy this problem previously, but…
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Posted in Birth Trauma, Brain Damage Tagged birth trauma, birth trauma attorney, brain injury Comments Off on Forceps Cause Newborn Skull Fracture
