Birth injuries can range in severity from minor conditions that resolve within a few weeks of a child’s birth to life-threatening complications demanding immediate treatment, lifelong supportive care, or both. Given the breadth of this range and the number of possible underlying causes, recognizing signs of birth injuries can be crucial to ensuring prompt treatment for your child. Unfortunately, far too many preventable birth injuries happen each year, and medical professionals may not always be prompt in performing the diagnostics needed for timely intervention. If you have concerns about the appropriateness of the care your infant has received, you may wish to review your child’s case history with an attorney experienced in handling birth injury cases. Parents in New Mexico can reach Erin Marshall Law by calling 505-218-9949.
Birth Injuries vs. Maternal Injuries
Individuals seeking information about how to proceed after a difficult and potentially damaging experience with a baby’s arrival are likely to encounter the terms birth injury (or birth injuries) as well as maternity injury (or maternity injuries) repeatedly. Since both maternity injuries and birth injuries commonly occur during childbirth, it is not unusual for new parents to experience some confusion about the differences in these two terms and the medical issues to which they refer.
Maternal Injuries
If you are discussing your situation directly with a medical professional or an attorney focused on healthcare cases, you can always ask the person with whom you are speaking to define their use of either term. Such clarifications can be helpful when a medical team is not clear about the degree to which factors leading up to the onset of a mother’s labor may have impacted the outcome. As a general rule, however, a maternity injury is usually an injury sustained in the mother’s body – and the causes of maternity injuries may extend to the period before her labor begins.
Birth Injuries
Birth injuries, meanwhile, are usually those sustained by an infant, and according to Stanford Medicine Children’s Health are typically the result of some aspect of the birthing process. While not all obstetric professionals will employ exactly the same “cutoff” point for birth injuries, the term is primarily applied to harms an infant sustains after the mother’s active labor begins, and may include trauma associated with the first moments after the baby’s delivery from the mother’s womb. Injuries sustained by a fetus earlier in a woman’s pregnancy may lead to a birth defect or prenatal injury, but are less likely to be considered birth injuries. Given the nature of the childbirth process, it is not unusual for maternal injuries and birth injuries to arise from the same delivery.
Causes of Birth Injuries
Some birth injuries occur as the result of natural stresses placed on an infant during childbirth. The progression of a mother’s labor typically plays a role in which types of birth injuries may be most likely in a particular case, but the decisions and actions of medical professionals attending the birth can also play a role in making some birth injuries more vs. less likely, as well as influencing the outcome of any birth injuries that do occur.
According to the University of Rochester Medical Center, some of the most widely recognized risk factors for birth injuries include:
- Large infant size (Mayo Clinic identifies this condition as fetal macrosomia)
- Breech birth, which according to Cleveland Clinic occurs when a baby is not positioned head-first at the onset of labor
- Early (preterm or premature) birth
- Prolonged or difficult labor (particularly when labor is slow due to weak contractions)
- Cesarean (C-section) delivery
- Use of medical devices, such as forceps or vacuum, to assist in delivery
- Maternal difficulties during labor, such as weak contractions or an especially tight pelvis or birth canal
Notably, not all of these risk factors make all birth injuries equally likely. Instead, the types of birth injuries that are most likely in a particular case tend to be “weighted,” or differentially distributed, based on the set of risk factors present in each unique situation. Recognizing the relationship between common risk factors and the types of birth injuries they are most likely to cause can put you in a position to watch for signs of the birth injuries most closely associated with the factors present in your own baby’s delivery.
Common Types of Birth Injuries
The physical effects of birth trauma often depend heavily on the progression of labor and the variables present in the specific case. Some of the most common types of birth injuries include:
Brachial Plexus Injuries
Caused by stretching or, in more severe cases, tearing of the nerves in a baby’s shoulder that control movement in the affected arm and hand. According to John Hopkins Medicine, brachial plexus injuries can stem from trauma to the neck, and people of any age with non-severe brachial plexus injuries often make strong recoveries. When the damage is more serious, however, surgical intervention may be needed.
The risk with an infant, of course, is that the baby cannot tell you if his or her arm and hand are numb, or if one arm is weaker or more difficult to control than the other – and newborns have very little motor control of any kind, so detecting abnormalities can be difficult. After a difficult birth, especially if your baby’s shoulder got “stuck” in the birth canal, or even dislocated during delivery, it may be useful to watch for signs that the baby does not exhibit the same degree of control over both hands over the first few days and weeks. If your newborn has exhibited symptoms of brachial plexus injuries and you feel medical staff may not be taking the appropriate steps to diagnose a possible birth injury, you may wish to schedule a conversation with a New Mexico medical injury attorney at Erin Marshall Law.
Skeletal Fractures
Fractures can occur anywhere in the body, but as birth injuries they are most common in infant collarbones. Clavicle fractures are especially likely in cases of breech birth, which often causes the pressure of a mother’s labor contractions to be distributed across the baby’s body differently from what would be the case in a “normal,” head-down presentation. As with injuries to the brachial plexus, clavicle fractures are often the result of a “stuck” shoulder, known medically as shoulder dystocia.
The good news for skeletal fractures is that in very small children (including newborns) these injuries do often heal well. The somewhat worse news is that the fractures may not always be obvious, and a prompt diagnosis can be important if the bone needs a split, sling, or other stabilization. If your baby experiences shoulder dystocia during delivery, or if forceps or other methods are used in “pulling” the baby during childbirth, you may wish to consider asking medical staff to evaluate your newborn for the possibility of fractures so that they can receive appropriate treatment without delay.
Cephalohematoma
“Hematoma” is the medical term for bruising, or the rupturing of blood vessels (without an open wound). “Cephalo-” is a prefix commonly used in medical terminology to indicate the cranial area. Cephalohematoma, therefore, is one of several injuries related to fluid and swelling in the head. As a form of birth injury, cephalohematoma may be caused by:
- The use of forceps or vacuum extraction to assist in delivery
- The extreme pressure exerted on the baby’s skull during progress through the birth canal (independent of the use of any obstetric tools)
According to continuing education resource materials available through the National Library of Medicine (NLM), most cases of cephalohematoma resolve within about a month of delivery. If your baby is diagnosed with cephalohematoma (usually indicated by a distinct “bump” or bulge on the infant’s head), you may need to watch closely to make sure that the bulge does disappear within the first few weeks at home, as well as keeping an eye out for potentially related complications, as there can be an increased risk of disorders such as jaundice in cephalohematoma cases.
Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)
One of the most potentially dangerous birth injuries is hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. This condition, which occurs when the brain is starved of blood and oxygen, can cause permanent impairment in a child’s cerebral function. Severe cases can be life-threatening.
The Cleveland Clinic suggests the following signs of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy that new parents can watch for:
- Signs of disproportionate fatigue (this symptom may be difficult for first-time parents to discern, so consider speaking with a professional if you are concerned) or irritability
- Feeding difficulties or a weak cry
- Abnormally flaccid or especially tense muscles
- A blue or gray cast to the skin, especially in the fingers and at the lips
- Limited responsivity to touch or sound, or poor reflexes overall
- Irregular breathing
The range of severity for HIE can be wide, so it is important to recognize that not all symptoms may be present in every case. At the same time, as the Cleveland Clinic explains, the condition affects up to 6 in 1,000 births each year. If you have concerns about how the actions of medical professionals involved in your child’s birth may have affected the baby’s chances of developing HIE, you may wish to discuss your situation with a birth injury lawyer.
Speak With a Birth Injury Lawyer
Some birth injuries are unavoidable complications of childbirth. Unfortunately, however, many preventable birth injuries continue to occur each year. In addition, injudicious decision-making or faulty technique among healthcare staff during labor and delivery can in many cases exacerbate the injury risks of an already difficult birth. Watching for signs of birth injuries can put parents in position to recognize symptoms and seek early treatment for their precious infants. If you are concerned that your child may have suffered preventable birth injuries due to medical negligence, and especially if you have ongoing concerns about your child’s treatment, a conversation with a birth injury attorney may help you to develop a balanced perspective on your situation and evaluate whether legal action may be an option you wish to pursue. Contact Erin Marshall Law at 505-218-9949 today to schedule a consultation with a lawyer at our Albuquerque office.
