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Birth Injuries

The Law Firm of Rappaport, Glass, Green and Levine is currently accepting cases involving injuries that happened to infants during the birthing procedure. Birth trauma can be the cause of cerebral palsy, Erb’s Palsy and Shoulder Dystocia. If your child suffers from a condition that you feel was brought on by an error during delivery, RGGL has a team of experienced and knowledgeable attorneys that can assist you in receiving compensation for your damages. Contact our offices for a free legal consultation today.

A birth injury is defined as harm that occurs to an infant either before, during or immediately after the delivery process. While instances of birth injury have declined in recent years, they still occur with some regularity. In year 2000 healthcare surveys, there were 6.68 birth trauma injuries per every 1,000 live births. The complications and their consequences can vary from minor conditions like skin irritation to the death of the infant. While many birth injuries occur due to no fault of either the doctor or the mother, there are still a number of injuries that are either preventable from a medical standpoint or are entirely the fault of the attending physician.

Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy is commonly known as an “Umbrella Condition,” meaning that it is a condition that has no uniform set of symptoms. The variety of symptoms means that one CP victim may have symptoms that are completely different from those of another victim. Types of Cerebral Palsy can be placed into four very broad categories.

Ataxic Cerebral Palsy – The symptoms of Ataxic Cerebral Palsy are a lack of balance, poor coordination, and a lack of depth perception, and they occur in approximately 10% of cases.

Athetoid or Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy – Symptoms include a lack of control in movements. Writhing is also exhibited in some cases. These symptoms appear in approximately 20% of CP cases.

Mixed Cerebral Palsy –Since Cerebral Palsy has such a wide range of symptoms, it is not uncommon for victims to exhibit symptoms that fall under multiple categories. For instance, contracted muscles in the arms could be combined with poor depth perception, or uncontrollable movement could be combined with muscle stiffness. Approximately 10% of CP cases fall under this category.

Spastic Cerebral Palsy – These symptoms are the most common. 50 to 75% of CP victims exhibit permanent muscle contraction and stiffness.

There are very rarely clear indicators as to what factor caused a case of Cerebral Palsy. It has been known to occur in cases where the mother and doctors involved in the birth did everything right. But research has provided some identifiable factors. The use of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes by pregnant women can cause neurological damage to the fetus. Chemical exposure is another cause. In the 1970’s, the CP rate in the Minimata Bay area in Japan increased greatly because of fish contaminated with mercury. Women who have suffered from prior miscarriages also have higher than average rates of CP in their children. A lack of oxygen to the baby before and during birth is most certainly a cause. During birth, an interruption of blood flow to the brain or blood with too little oxygen can cause severe brain damage. Causes for oxygen interruption could be umbilical cord complications, premature placental separation, or irregular presentation through the birth canal causing pressure on the cranium.

One of common cause of oxygen interruption is medical error. Typical physician mistakes include a misapplication of forceps during delivery, in which the doctor applies too much pressure on to the head of the baby as it is passing through the birth canal. Vacuum extraction errors are similar, in that too much suction is applied during the birth. Forceps and vacuum incidents can also cause damage to the placenta or do structural damage to the neck and shoulders.

Shoulder Dystocia

While determining a cause of Cerebral Palsy can be difficult, determining the cause of shoulder dystocia is a much more simple process. This injury to the brachial plexus during delivery occurs when a baby’s head enters the mother’s birth canal while the rest of the newborn’s body is an awkward or rigid posture. The shoulder of the newborn becomes lodged against the bone structures behind the birth canal. The result is that the nerves around the shoulder get torn or damaged, and the infant suffers from paralysis of the area.

Shoulder dystocia happens often enough to the point that attending doctors should be aware of the established warning signs that it could occur. A mother who has been conscientious about her prenatal care has given the doctor many opportunities to spot possible dystocia related complications when the birth occurs. If a mother has an abnormal pelvic anatomy, gestational diabetes, or is a person of short stature, then any one of these can be considered a risk. Shoulder dystocia is also more common among women who deliver larger than average babies. The average rate for dystocia among infants weighing 9 pounds or more is 9 percent, and with doctors frequently employing ultrasounds, a larger than average baby should be noticed well before the birth. A possible episode of shoulder dystocia is rarely something that simply happens “out of the blue.”

There are also several methods that a doctor should use to safely dislodge the shoulder and successfully deliver the baby. These maneuvers include the McRobert’s maneuver, which is simply pushing the mother’s legs further apart by applying pressure at the knee toward the head. Other maneuvers include gentle suprapubic pressure from the side, with the avoidance of any pressure between the breasts and abdomen. Doctors should avoid this type of pressure (called fundal pressure) at all times during a dystocia episode. If these procedures are unsuccessful, the obstetrician should attempt to rotate the lodged shoulder with gentle pressure using the Wood’s or Rubin maneuver. An episiotomy may provide additional outlet access. All maternal pushing should be terminated as well when shoulder dystocia is encountered. If an obstetrician applies excessive pressure, either with hands, forceps, vacuum extraction or other equipment used during delivery, nerves in the brachial plexus can be torn and damaged, resulting in partial or complete paralysis to the baby’s shoulder, arm and/or hand.

Shoulder Dystocia is an event that is both foreseeable and preventable, and any competent doctor should be prepared for its occurrence.

Erb’s Palsy

While the consequences of shoulder dystocia are bad enough, Erb’s Palsy (which is similar in that it is caused by trauma suffered from delivery,) has effects that are much more dire. In the case of EP, traction or stress placed on the head and neck of the infant causes damage to the C5-C6 region of the spine, damaging nerves and resulting in brachial plexus paralysis. While some cases have shown improvement over time, many victims of EP have to suffer through loss of use of limbs or lifelong deformities.

The Costs of Birth Injuries

There is enormous expense in helping the victim of a birth injury to live as normal a life as possible. Aside from the initial medical bills, there are also the costs of the myriad of specialists that will be needed. Physical therapists, orthopedists, social workers, occupational therapists, and in the case of some CP sufferers, speech therapists and psychotherapists all have important roles to play in assisting in the development of a child with a birth injury.

If your child suffered an injury at birth, and you have suspicions that the doctor was at fault, Rappaport, Glass, Greene and Levine have the experience to give the circumstances of your pregnancy and delivery the thorough review it deserves. We can determine if your child’s condition occurred due to negligence and malpractice. If the causes of your child’s birth injury were due to factors that were man-made, we’ll fight to make sure that your family is justly compensated, and that you won’t have to bear the costs of providing for your child alone. Call RGGL for a free legal consultation today.

Web Resources for Birth Injuries:

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