“Labor and delivery affect both mother and child significantly. But birth injuries go beyond typical effects. They are often life-changing and affect infant development,” Forbes said.

Click here to learn more about Skolnick Weiser Law Firm’s Birth Injury capabilities or here to read the full article.

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“Birth injuries can occur from complications during the labor and delivery process. They can also result from improper prenatal medical care,” Find Law said.

Click here to learn more about Skolnick Weiser Law Firm’s Birth Injury capabilities or here to read the full article.

Article with all rights reserved, courtesy of Find Law —- https://www.findlaw.com/
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What puts a child at risk of CP?

It is generally caused by oxygen deprivation to the brain. Some risk factors for CP that can be spotted and mitigated through prompt medical care include:

• Maternal exposure to infections, including viruses like chickenpox and measles
• Maternal pelvic infections that go untreated
• Multiple births — being a twin or triplet increases the chance of developing CP
• A low weight at birth (less than 5.5 pounds)
• Premature delivery (prior to the 37th week of gestation)
• Jaundice in a newborn that is untreated
• Complications during childbirth that lead to oxygen deprivation, including uterine ruptures or a tangled umbilical cord.
• Maternal health complications like seizures and thyroid problems

When should you suspect malpractice?

Not every case of CP is related to medical malpractice — but many are. You should suspect malpractice if your labor was unusually long, your doctor overlooked an infection you were carrying or forcefully pulled your baby out during delivery with forceps or a vacuum extractor (either of which could have caused a brain injury).

You should also be suspicious that your child’s injuries could have been prevented if your pregnancy was considered “high-risk” and you were never put on bed rest, given the option of the C-section or weren’t properly monitored during your labor.

When new parents are confronted with their child’s disability, it can be overwhelming. It’s hard to know where to turn or what steps to take. If you think your child was injured at birth or through medical negligence, contact our office to discuss your situation.

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What causes this condition to happen?

There are a number of factors that can elevate your risk of developing placenta previa. These include:

• You’re a smoker.
• You use cocaine.
• This isn’t your first pregnancy.
• You’ve had prior uterine surgery, including dilation and curettage (D & C) or C-section.
• You’re pregnant with more than one child.
• You’ve had placenta previa in the past.
• You’re 35 years of age or older at the time of your pregnancy.

While placenta previa can also happen for unknown reasons, it’s important for your doctor to be conscious of these risk factors when assessing your condition.

Can you tell if you have placenta previa?

Most likely, no. Most women have no symptoms during the early part of their pregnancy. The condition is usually detected through an ultrasound.

During the latter part of your pregnancy, you may start to experience painless bleeding or bleeding with contractions. If that happens, it’s wisest to get checked out by a doctor right away.

What are the main risks of placenta previa?

Miscarriage is always a possibility, especially if the placenta tears away from the wall of the uterus early on. Even in late pregnancy, however, the condition can be serious. If the placenta abruptly detaches, the mother can bleed to death and the baby can suffer from hypoxia, or a lack of oxygen to the brain.

In order to protect you and your baby against the dangers of placenta previa, your doctor should take appropriate cautions — including increased medical supervision and bed rest.

Did your doctor fail to provide you with adequate care during your pregnancy? If you or your baby suffered an injury due to medical neglect, it’s time to find out more about your legal options.

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The sad reality is that new mothers are dying at an alarming rate in the U.S., and there’s not much being done to stop it. Hospitals and doctors know what to do — but they aren’t doing it.

Investigative reporters have uncovered some startling facts about maternal care in our country. The results of their four-year investigation indicate that around 700 American women die in childbirth every year — and another 50,000 are seriously injured. Our country is now the most dangerous in the developed world for expecting mothers.

Some of the incidents that have been uncovered are horrifying:

• An Ohio woman nearly bled to death following a C-section and ultimately required an emergency hysterectomy that would have otherwise been avoidable — if anybody had paid attention to the warning signs of her condition.
• A South Carolina mother died after doctors ignored her dangerously high blood pressure post-delivery and sent her home. She suffered a stroke in the hospital waiting room after sitting around for hours, hoping to be seen.
• A Texas woman suffered kidney failure — and now needs a transplant — because doctors didn’t measure her blood loss following a delivery. They just “eyeballed” it, instead.

The worst part is that experts say most of these deaths — 60 percent of those from preeclampsia and 93 percent of those that involve bleeding to death — are preventable. All hospitals have to do is follow the guidelines for maternal care that are already in place. California, for example, has adopted stricter protocols and cut its maternal death rate in half. However, the rest of the nation isn’t following suit.

Did you lose someone due to negligent or inadequate care during delivery? Were you injured? If so, it’s important to find out more about your right to compensation and justice.

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If so, you aren’t alone. Most people don’t associate “death in childbirth” as a common problem for women in the United States — but maternal death rates in this country are on the rise — especially for some segments of the population. If you’re pregnant, where you live and the color of your skin could be a life or death issue.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the maternal death rate for women in this country has increased by 50 percent since 1990. In addition, women in certain areas of the country face poorer odds than others. Georgia, for example, is considered the worst state in the nation for maternal safety and is only getting worse.

Women of color, in particular, are at risk. Black mothers are up to four times more likely to die during childbirth than white mothers, regardless of their level of education or income. That’s a startling statistic — and one that points toward troubling conclusions about how doctors may be treating women of different races.

To really gain perspective about the problem, you only need to compare the maternal death rate of various developed nations. There are an estimated 26.4 maternal deaths per 100,000 births in the United States. In Canada, the rate is 7.3 per 100,000. In Norway, it’s only 4.

U.S. women fare far worse than women in many countries that even have far less-adequate health care overall and worse living conditions. For example, Iran’s maternal death rate is only 20.8 per 100,000 birth. In Turkey, it’s 15.8.

Death may be the most serious concern for women, but it’s important to remember that many new mothers are seriously injured during childbirth. For every woman that dies, it’s estimated that another 50 barely survive. Many are left with grave injuries that can last a lifetime.

If you or your wife fell victim to negligent medical care during a pregnancy or delivery, talk to an attorney about your rights and options. A birth injury lawsuit may provide the financial stability your family needs in order to move forward.

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As one of the nations with the most advanced medical care in the world, the rate of maternal injury in childbirth should be falling — not rising. Yet, American women are finding it increasingly risky to be pregnant and give birth. Not only are their unborn children in danger, so are they.

A congressional committee is trying to find the reasons behind this troubling trend. Due to the fact that it has been difficult for private investigations to get answers, the committee is now asking hospitals around the nation for information. It wants to know how the hospitals identify women who are at risk of injury during their pregnancy or delivery and what methods the hospitals are using to track the outcomes of each pregnancy. The committee also wants to know what medical professionals are doing to improve maternal safety during childbirth.

Previous studies and anecdotal evidence have indicated that hospitals may be skipping some standard practices that could easily be used to improve conditions. Roughly 500,000 women suffer serious injuries in childbirth each year — and around 700 of those women will die of complications. There’s a huge racial disparity as well that’s unexplained. Black mothers are up to four times more likely to be injured or die during childbirth than white women.

According to previous investigations, at least half of those injuries and deaths are preventable. It just requires better diagnostic procedures to identify maternal risks earlier in the pregnancies.

In all, Congress has asked more than a dozen of the biggest hospital systems to respond. Those systems are responsible for running over 900 hospitals and oversee the delivery of one out of every five births in the nation.

Most people think that birth injuries only happen to infants these days. The idea that women are in serious danger when they give birth has not really been in the public’s consciousness for a long time now. These recent investigations may change that — and that’s good news for women. A preventable injury during childbirth is a tragedy that should never happen.

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A premature delivery is any birth that occurs prior to 37 weeks of gestation. The earlier the birth, the more severe the consequences to the baby.

Lung issues are some of the most common problems experienced by premature babies, simply because the lungs are the last to develop. Premature babies usually spend some time in an incubator so that they have the extra oxygen they need while their lungs strengthen. It isn’t unusual for premature babies to develop lifelong breathing problems, including asthma and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).

Premature deliveries are also associated with a number of cognitive problems in children. Most premature babies are slower to develop physically, and they’re also slower to develop mentally. Children who were premature often have behavioral problems in school, problems with anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and difficulty communicating well with others.

There are a number of additional problems that children who were premature may experience as they grow, including a variety of intestinal disorders that make it difficult for them to process food and take in adequate nutrition. Severe vision and hearing problems, including deafness, are also unfortunately common.

Children and adults who were born prematurely are also highly susceptible to infections — and may remain so throughout their lives. Children, in particular, are prone to pneumonia and meningitis, both of which can be lethal.

There are numerous causes of preterm deliveries — and physician negligence may be a factor. If you believe that your physician overlooked some obvious warning signs of preterm labor or didn’t act quickly enough to halt the delivery by ordering bed rest or prescribing medications that could stop labor, that may be considered negligence. You may be able to hold your physician responsible for your child’s premature delivery and the resulting birth injuries.

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Unfortunately, doctors sometimes make serious mistakes with prenatal care. They may overlook certain common complications of pregnancy and that can lead to a lifetime of complications for the child and the child’s family.

Every expecting mother should expect her doctor to look for the following:

Preeclampsia

Protein in your urine and high blood pressure are two indicators of this serious condition that can lead to seizures and eventually be fatal. It’s a particular concern toward the later stages of a pregnancy and may require bed rest or an early delivery.

Gestational diabetes

This is a particular concern for mothers who have a family history of diabetes or who gain a lot of weight during their pregnancy. Your doctor should be especially watchful if you’ve already had the condition with an earlier pregnancy.

Placenta previa

This is a condition where the placenta lies low in the uterus where it may rupture or bleed. It’s important to diagnose it early because a cesarean-section is required to prevent a fatality.

Low amniotic fluid

Amniotic fluid is what cushions and protects your baby in the womb. If that fluid gets low, it can cause numerous complications for the infant. Doctors can determine if the fluid levels are normal through an ultrasound. If there are problems, the child may need to be delivered early.

Premature labor

A full-term pregnancy is one of the best things that can happen for a baby’s health, so doctors need to be on the watch for premature labor. Early deliveries can be delayed and sometimes halted with rapid interventions.

If your doctor’s failure to detect these conditions led to a birth injury, you and your child may be the victim of negligence.

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It’s incredibly dangerous. Both the baby and the mother can die if the baby can’t be freed. It was one of the most common causes of death for mothers and babies during natural births prior to the invention of the cesarean section.

Unfortunately, doctors cannot totally prevent it from happening. However, while shoulder dystocia can’t be totally predicted in all cases, there are risk factors that doctors should use when evaluating the possibility. They include:

• The presence of gestational diabetes in the mother, which leads to abnormally large babies
• A prior birth where the child was unusually large (especially since subsequent children are often larger)
• A prior incident of shoulder dystocia
• A pregnancy that has already exceeded its normal term (passing the 40th week of gestation)
• A male baby (because they are typically larger)
• The mother is significantly overweight or has gained a lot of weight during the pregnancy

In addition to the potential for death, mothers may experience a torn uterus, a damaged cervix, a torn rectum and torn vagina. The complications and bleeding can be immense.

A baby that is delivered alive after shoulder dystocia may suffer oxygen deprivation that causes brain damage. He or she may also suffer nerve damage that leaves his or her shoulders and hands paralyzed — which may be permanent.

When a health care provider pays attention to the signs, he or she should consider doing a C-section to prevent the issue. Failing to do so in the face of numerous indicators that shoulder dystocia is likely to occur could be negligence.

Birth injuries can affect both mother and child. They often leave both damaged for life. Anyone suffering from a physician’s failure to take all the available facts into account before proceeding with a natural birth should consider their legal options carefully.

Source: March of Dimes, “Shoulder Dystocia,” accessed May 25, 2018

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