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How Birth Injuries Happen: 3 Contributing Factors

Nothing is more devastating than seeing your new baby come into the world with a serious injury or

medical issue that could have been prevented.

*Source: Nirupama Laroia, MBBS, MD and Ted Rosenkrantz, MD, “Birth Trauma,” Medscape (Feb. 2, 2015).

Birth injuries affect roughly 6 to 8 babies for every 1,000 live births.* They range in severity from abrasions and laceration to cerebral palsy to severe brain damage and death. So what contributes to birth injuries – and how can they be prevented?

Inadequate Prenatal Care

1

Poor prenatal care makes it difficult to identify and manage risk factors such as: • Advanced maternal age (35 and older) • History of large babies (macrosomia) • Cephalopelvic disproportion (improper size or shape of the pelvis) • History of preterm birth • Breech presentation • Gestational diabetes

Prevention Tip: Don’t skip your prenatal appointments. Choose a provider you trust – whether an OB-GYN or certified nurse-midwife. Follow their recommendations and take an active role in your own health (and your baby’s).

Problems With Fetal Monitoring

2

As a window into the womb, fetal monitoring tracks your baby’s heart rate in relation to your contractions. This is the only way to know whether your baby is struggling.

• Failure to perform continuous fetal monitoring when warranted

• Failure to use an internal fetal monitor when an external

one isn’t working • Issues with the monitor itself producing inaccurate

readings • Failure to properly interpret or report readings • Failure to promptly react to abnormal readings

Birth injuries can result from:

Prevention Tip: Don’t refuse fetal monitoring. Request continuous rather than intermittent monitoring, especially if you’re at risk for a complicated delivery.

Failure To Order A Timely C-Section

3

A C-section may become necessary if complications arise such as:

• Fetal distress (abnormal heart rate) • Placenta problems • Prolonged or stalled labor • Umbilical cord prolapsed • Improper positioning (such as breech presentation) • Failure of baby’s head to properly descend into the pelvis

Source: March of Dimes, “Medical reasons for a C-section.”

Prevention Tip: Deliver in a hospital (rather than a birth center or at home) so you can undergo an emergency C-section if needed. If you opt for a birth center, make sure it’s an accredited facility, and have a contingency plan in case things go wrong.

How Birth Injuries Happen

For more information about birth injuries and their legal ramifications, contact our firm.

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