No parents want their child to experience even the slightest amount of pain, especially a newborn. But often, it is not in their hands to prevent their baby from going through the pain and trauma. A birth injury is such an instance that makes the parents wonder why it happened to their child. Or what went wrong? Or how they could have prevented it. Even though it is not their fault, parents still find themselves fraught with anguish, hopelessness, and uncertainty about their baby’s future. But in reality, preventing birth injury is not in the parents’ control. They might do everything right during the pregnancy but still, find their child experiencing a birth injury.
Why so?
Birth injuries occur due to the negligent behavior of medical professionals during pregnancy, labor, and childbirth. Birth injuries are very alarming, and the number of such cases is not dwindling either. According to 2021 data, 6-8 out of 1000 babies born experience birth injuries every year. It means 2333 infants experience birth injuries every month. Is there a way to confront the responsible parties and prevent this negligence? Yes, there is!
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Preventing birth injuries
The medical team’s negligence resulting in birth injuries is mentally devastating for parents; it is a crime against humanity. If only they had been more careful and adhered to standards of medical practice, the baby might still be healthy, and the parents reveling its presence.
When there are crimes, there is also law and punishments to thwart them. In case of birth injuries, you can file a birth injury lawsuit if you are sure of the medical team’s negligence. For instance, Erb’s palsy is one of the birth injuries, and medical malpractice for erb’s palsy makes you eligible for erb’s palsy lawsuit. With this lawsuit, you can demand compensation from all the responsible parties. The compensation amount is indispensable for managing the extended and costly treatment of your baby’s illness.
Now that you know, what you can do to prevent more birth injuries from happening, you must know which birth injuries make you eligible for demanding compensation.
Cerebral palsy
One of the most prevalent types of birth injuries is cerebral palsy. Statistics mention that two babies out of every thousand births are born with cerebral palsy. As a result of this injury, your baby’s posture, movement, and muscle tone are impacted. The birth injury occurs due to brain damage during pregnancy, labor, and childbirth. The damage to the brain can also occur between two to three years of a baby’s birth.
Birth birth injury happens due to delayed or wrong intervention of the obstetrical team. Often the baby is incapable of withstanding the intrauterine environment for one or the other reasons. Therefore, it requires an urgent delivery. However, sometimes the medical team fails to recognize the need for a C-section and proceeds with vaginal delivery. Hence, undue stress can deprive the baby’s brain of needed oxygen leading to cerebral palsy.
There is no cure for cerebral palsy. But fortunately, it is not progressive—it does not get worse over time. Treatments include various types of therapies and medication. Early diagnosis and treatment interventions can improve your baby’s quality of life.
Brachial Plexus Injuries Erb’s palsy
In this type of birth injury, your baby sustains injuries to the cluster of nerves located in the neck and the shoulder. Resultantly, the baby experiences movement issues or even paralysis in their arm or shoulder. The paralysis happens because the nerves’ function to transmit signals to the spinal, shoulder, arm, and the hand is hampered.
The injury occurs when the baby is pulled out during a vaginal canal delivery while its shoulder is still stuck under the mother’s pelvic bone. The undue pull at the baby’s head causes shoulder dystocia. In some cases, the injury heals on its own. But in other instances, it needs surgery or other treatments. Treatments include medications to suppress the symptoms, such as pain, and therapies to improve movement in the shoulder, arm, hand, and fingers.
Kernicterus
Sometimes jaundice in the babies goes undiagnosed and mistreated, resulting in Kernicterus—preventable brain damage. More than 80% of the babies experience jaundice at birth, but some of them heal with light therapy and medications. However, to the parents’ dismay, doctors often fail to monitor this situation properly, resulting in an abnormal build-up of bilirubin in the blood—and—the permanent loss of the baby.
Broken bones
Labor and childbirth are not only tiring for the mother, but they are also equally so for the baby. Therefore, parents recognize that minor scratches, bruising, and body inflammation are normal. But broken bones can ring alarm bells that something grossly wrong happened during childbirth. Doctors must realize how minor harm can lead to lasting damage to the baby and their families.
Common bones broken during the injury include clavicle, femur, and long bones in the legs or arms. Some causes of broken bones range from a prolonged difficult pregnancy, abnormal fetal presentation, shoulder dystocia, improper use of Pitocin, etc.
Not all babies need extensive treatment as a result of broken bones. As the babies often have exceptional development potential, many minor problems may heal on their own. But of course, you must consult your doctor to know the extent of the problem. However, if the broken bones are too severe, they may be treated with splints, casts, traction, medication, closed reduction, and surgery for more serious cases.
Cephalohematoma
It is a condition when the blood gathers under the baby’s skull. Often the baby’s body reabsorbs the blood and releases the pressure. If not, it can lead to jaundice when the baby’s body takes too long to break down red blood cells. Often, the condition occurs due to physical trauma during the birthing process. If the blood pool does not get resorbed within a few weeks to months, the doctor may have to drain the blood.
Spinal cord damage
This is one of the non-frequently occurring conditions in the baby. Damage to the spinal cord happens due to excessive pulling and improper use of force during the delivery. In some cases, a baby experiences tears in the meninges—three layers of tissues protecting the spinal cord. Spinal cord damage leads to brain damage, sometimes paralysis.
Conclusion
Birth injuries cause excruciating mental agony to the parents, and, for babies, it is much worse. Often it leads to permanent damage and lifelong dependence on others. But unfortunately, there has been no decrease in the occurrences of such cases. Therefore, such instances must be discouraged at all costs. The medical staff must know that their negligence can cause serious damage to their patients and their own careers. Therefore, birth injury cases must be brought to the limelight to instill a fear of justice in the responsible parties.
