BIRTH INJURIES

Birth injuries are medical conditions that occur during the birthing process. They can range from mild complications to severe, lifelong disabilities. These injuries might be due to natural causes, but in some cases, they result from substandard medical care. Some indications that your baby may have suffered an avoidable injury during the birthing process include, decelerations in the fetal heart rate, NICU admission, post-birth cooling, HIE (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy) diagnosis, cerebral palsy diagnosis. brachial plexus injury, cord blood gases that indicate acidemia, and shoulder dystocia diagnosis.

Healthcare providers are responsible for ensuring that the birthing process is safe, both for you and your child. Primarily, the safety of the baby is monitored through the fetal heart rate during the birthing process in conjunction with mom's contractions. When the baby experiences a drop in heart rate seen on fetal monitoring strips, this may be cause for concern and requires immediate attention from trained healthcare providers. Situation dependent, healthcare providers can respond to drops in the fetal heart rate in various ways including providing mom with oxygen, repositioning mom, repositioning the fetus, providing IV fluids, evaluating contractions and the efficacy of Pitocin, and, when necessary, performing an immediate cesarean section. However, when healthcare providers ignore or fail to appropriately respond to changes in the fetal heart rate, a baby can suffer a lack of oxygen to the brain that results in a brain injury. Brain injuries in newborns can be devastating and result in all sorts of injuries, including cerebral palsy, seizures, and developmental delays.