Despite the excitement you may feel about knowing your baby will be a boy or a girl, you probably agree with most parents that your priority and perhaps even only concern is that the baby is healthy. Therefore, when your baby suffers a birth injury that has a long-term impact on their life, it can be absolutely devastating. In fact, you may not even be able to take in the full consequences of these birth injuries when they initially happen. However, understanding what the future may hold for your child and your family is important. If you choose to file a birth injury claim, understanding these potential repercussions is vital to ensuring that you do not settle for less compensation than you deserve. If your child sustained a birth injury and you would like to learn more about filing a claim against the responsible healthcare providers, call Erin Marshall Law at (505) 218-9949 to schedule your consultation.
Long-Term Impacts of Birth Injuries On the Injured Children
The Birth Injury Center cites a report compiled by the Center for Justice and Democracy at New York Law School in 2019 which stated that 80% of birth injuries were “high severity” injuries resulting in semi permanent or permanent damage to the child, and 24% resulted in the death of the child, the mother, or both. These statistics alone highlight how impactful a birth injury can be on a child and their family. Looking more deeply into the semi permanent or permanent damage that a birth injury can cause shows a lengthy list of physical, emotional, and mental impacts on the child. The specific impacts that a child may face will depend on the injury they suffered and the severity of that injury, which means that not every child will face every potential impact.
Mobility Problems
Birth injuries can cause mobility problems for the child. A brain injury such as cerebral palsy can cause reduced mobility, as well as other disabilities. Other injuries such as severe shoulder injuries or brachial plexus injuries, both common birth injuries, can cause limited mobility or reduced strength in the arm or arms affected. While the child may undergo extensive therapy and other treatment to give them the best life possible, they may still have to live with a permanent disability that limits their movements.
Developmental Delays
Oxygen deprivation or other birth trauma can significantly impede a child’s early-stage development, causing potentially severe developmental delays. These developmental delays can have additional consequences that compound and cause even greater consequences in the future. In some cases, the delays are so great that the child is unable to ever live on their own or function as an adult, despite the best interventions and efforts of the parents and healthcare providers.
Behavioral Challenges
Birth injuries that affect the brain can cause a variety of behavioral challenges, such as emotional dysregulation, sleep difficulties, sensory sensitivities, and attachment issues. This can cause the child to have mood swings, trouble regulating their emotions, nightmares, trouble falling asleep, increased sensitivity to lights, sounds, or touch, and trouble forming close bonds with their parents, siblings, or others around them. These behavioral challenges can create problems within the family as well as at school, daycares, and other places where the child interacts with others. When the child’s behavioral challenges present a problem at school or daycare, the family may be forced to make alternate arrangements for the child that require them to spend money they may not have needed to spend otherwise, such as tuition for a special school or a high salary for a private nanny, or one parent may quit their job to stay home and care for or homeschool the child.
Cognitive Disabilities
Erb’s palsy, cerebral palsy, and kernicterus are just three examples of cognitive disabilities that can result from birth injuries. These cognitive disabilities are permanent and although early treatment can improve the lives of children diagnosed with these disabilities, it will not cure them. While many children diagnosed with these conditions may go on to live fulfilling lives as adults, they still suffer significant trauma as a result of their condition and may still require additional supports that they would not have needed had they not suffered the birth injury.
Educational Difficulties
Brain injuries may cause decreased attention span, perceptual challenges, struggles with language, or difficulties with executive functioning. Alone or combined, any of these challenges can result in a child who learns differently than others. This can mean the child struggles to keep up in a mainstream classroom and may require special education classes, accommodations in a mainstream classroom, or even to attend a special school. Behavioral challenges can also contribute to educational difficulties.
Physical Disabilities
There are many physical disabilities that can manifest as a result of birth injuries. These disabilities can impact the child’s life from birth on. From causing them to be delayed or unable to meet traditional milestones such as crawling or walking to preventing these children from participating in typical childhood activities such as riding bicycles or taking a physical education class in school, the child’s quality of life can be significantly impacted. Even into adulthood, these disabilities will persist and prevent the adult from engaging in activities that other adults enjoy, from daily errands and chores to casual sports.
Difficulty with Functions of Daily Life
Unfortunately, many birth injuries result in brain damage. As a result, many children who have suffered a birth injury are unable to engage in daily functions to take care of themselves. From brushing their own teeth or hair to bathing, eating, dressing, or speaking, these children may require around-the-clock care. While sometimes, the child is merely delayed and requires assistance until they are capable of handling the tasks themselves, most of the time, this need for care will continue into adulthood. This can also be problematic as the child’s parents begin to age and may require such care themselves. The child’s siblings, if they have any, may be required to either take on the care of both their sibling and their parents or to attempt to find (and possibly pay for) care for both the sibling and parents.
Shortened Life Expectancy
A number of birth injuries come with the tragic side effect of a shortened life expectancy. There are many injuries that do not shorten the child’s life, and even the ones that do can have varying prognoses depending on the individual. Whether the life expectancy cuts the child’s life short in childhood or adolescence, or takes a few years or decades off of their adulthood, the child’s life is not what it could have been had they been uninjured. While some might argue that the child may not be aware of this decreased life span, or that it may cause them to live their life more adventurously, many children whose life expectancy is shortened are aware of a sense of grief and sadness from their family and may feel emotional distress when their family is unable to fully enjoy the milestones and experiences the child has. Additionally, the child may suffer a rollercoaster of emotional ups and downs if their parents get excited as a result of every new potential medical advancement that might help the child and are then disappointed when those advancements do not help, do not help as much as they had hoped, or are not a fit for the child and their condition.
Loss of Companionship and Society
Parents often dream of the close relationships they will have with their children and that their children will have with each other. They imagine the day when their child has a best friend, and one day, perhaps a spouse and children of their own. For children who suffer birth injuries, these dreams may never become reality. Unfortunately, many children who have had a birth injury may never forge friendships or close connections with their parents, siblings, or other relatives.
Loss of Enjoyment of Life
The potential that exists in a life when it is just beginning is unlimited. Marriage, children, travel, careers, and so much more is at the fingertips of every healthy child born. Parents often even have hope that their child may solve a world problem, such as curing cancer or creating world peace. When the child suffers a birth injury, these possibilities suddenly narrow to far fewer, and in some cases, none at all. The loss of all that potential and the realization that their child may never live life to its fullest can be devastating to the family, and this devastation may cause the child to feel distress, sadness, and other negative feelings as well.
Chronic Health Problems
Many birth injuries result in chronic health problems that require the child to need constant medical care. This continuous medical care can cost the family money, make the child feel different, and can put a strain on the healthcare system. In some cases, when the family is uninsured or underinsured, they may avoid taking the injured child for all the exams and treatments they need because they cannot afford them. This can lead to worsening health conditions. Alternatively, families may resort to taking the child to the emergency room for treatment, knowing that they cannot be turned away, resulting in higher bills and exposure to other illnesses, germs, and infections.
Social Isolation and Bullying
Cognitive and physical disabilities, behavioral challenges, educational struggles, and more can cause the child to feel sad, frustrated, and left out. This can lead to feelings of isolation. Worse, other children may notice the differences between themselves and the injured child, and begin bullying the child. This can serve to further isolate the child and make them feel left out. These feelings can lead to additional mental health issues, such as depression, and may even lead to self-harm or suicide attempts. The National Library of Medicine reports that adolescents with self-reported disabilities as being three to nine times more likely to attempt suicide than other adolescents. Additionally, adolescents with autism, hearing, or vision disorders had even higher rates of suicide attempts.
Emotional Struggles
Often a culmination of all of the other potential consequences of birth injuries, many children struggle with feelings of frustration, sadness, loneliness, exclusion, and low self-esteem. Depending on the type of birth injury they suffered and the impacts it has on the child, the child may or may not be capable of expressing these feelings to a parent or therapist. This can lead to a strengthening of these feelings, and if the child is also bullied, this may increase the chances of self-harm or suicide attempts.
Long-Term Impacts of Birth Injuries On the Families
While it may seem as though the child suffers the most from their birth injury, families often struggle just as much. In some ways, the family may even struggle more, such as when it comes to their finances. Parents and siblings both feel the impacts of a child who suffered a birth injury.
Loss of Companionship, Society, and Enjoyment of Life
Like their child, parents of a child who suffered a birth trauma may experience the loss of companionship, society, and enjoyment of life. They may never experience the close, loving relationship they anticipated with their child, or witness the intimate bond between their child and the child’s siblings. Siblings who were excited to be a brother or sister and have a relationship with their new sibling may also experience this sense of loss.
In addition to grieving all that the child will miss, if the mother experienced injuries such as perineal tearing, pelvic tissue or muscle damage, or prolonged pain during labor and delivery, she may struggle with incontinence, loss of sensation, or severe pain which can result in sexual dysfunction, changing the dynamic of her relationship with her spouse.
Loss of a Child
Even though many birth injuries are survivable, they may result in a shortened life expectancy for the child. The loss of a child can have an enormous impact on a parent. Some couples do not survive the loss of a child and end up divorced. Others cannot imagine having more children after losing a child. Some may struggle to wake up and get through the day, much less live a happy, and fulfilling life if their child has died. This devastating loss is one that no amount of money can ever make right. However, a successful birth injury claim can hold the responsible party accountable and may prevent another family from experiencing the same loss at the hands of the same provider.
Significant Financial Costs
Children who suffer birth injuries often have significant needs that are very expensive. Special medical equipment, home modifications, specialized vehicles, frequent doctor visits and therapies, and long-term care or assisted living facilities can all add up quickly. Some parents are unable to provide all the care their child needs and must hire home health aides, nurses, or other professionals to help, which also adds to these expenses. Mothers may need one or more surgeries to address issues such as pelvic organ prolapse or bladder or bowel control, which require paying for the surgeries as well as taking time off work for both the surgery and recovery time in the hospital and at home.
While some of these expenses may be covered by insurance, not all of them are. Additionally, many of these New Mexico families cannot afford insurance, particularly when they must choose between insurance and paying for what their child or the mother needs if the insurance does not cover everything or has a high deductible.
Emotional Challenges
Taking care of a child who suffered a birth injury and now has long-term consequences from that injury takes a significant emotional toll on parents. They may feel anxious, stressed, worried, or depressed. They often struggle to have time for their own needs, much less time for a social life, which can lead to feelings of isolation and frustration. If they are given an opportunity to take a moment for themselves, they may feel guilty for doing so when their child needs them. The strain can cause arguments between spouses, and create tension between the parents and their other children. Parents may struggle to balance meeting the needs of their injured child and meeting the needs of their other children, feeling guilty that whichever child is not getting their attention at this moment may be feeling ignored, angry, or otherwise suffering.
Loss of Income
In some cases, at least one parent may quit their job or reduce their hours in order to care for their child. The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions reported that in 2021, New Mexico had the third-highest poverty rate in the United States at 18.4%, or approximately 382.798 people living in poverty. This means that for many families with a child injured at birth who were already living in poverty, reducing their hours or quitting their job may have not only made it more difficult for them to meet their everyday financial needs, but they may have had to make difficult decisions regarding their child’s healthcare needs. This can contribute to emotional challenges and divorce as the stress and strain of not having enough money builds until the parent or parents break. If a loss of income has created additional stress for your family after your child suffered a birth injury, Erin Marshall Law may be able to help you get the compensation you deserve so your family does not have to struggle financially.
Flashbacks and Nightmares
Whether it is the mother who may not have seen what happened and can only imagine what was taking place while she was giving birth, or the father who saw everything in close-up detail, both parents may have flashbacks and nightmares about the day their child was born and suffered birth trauma. These flashbacks and nightmares can feel very real and leave the parents feeling as though they are reliving that moment every time they have a nightmare or flashback. This can make it difficult, if not impossible, to move on from what may have been the most horrific day of their lives.
Mothers who were injured during the birth process may also experience flashbacks and nightmares. This distress can interfere with the mother’s sexual function, as well as her decision to have more children. While therapy may provide relief, if the mother is uninsured, therapy may not be an affordable option.
Guilt, Blame, and Self-Doubt
Both parents may also experience guilt, blame and self-doubt. The mother may question her choice of doctor, whether she should have said something when she noticed a particular situation during the birth, or wonder if she should have somehow known this would happen and blame herself or feel guilty. The father may wonder if he was not involved enough, if he should have researched and understood childbirth better so he could prevent what happened, or otherwise question how he could have done things differently to help the mother and their child. Both parents may be hesitant to resume their sex life if the mother suffered a birth injury and may second-guess their desire to have more children for fear that the mother may be injured again.
The self-doubt both parents may experience as a result of their child suffering a birth injury can lead to an overcorrection with their children. They may become overprotective and overreactive, taking their children (even the ones who do not have birth injuries) to the doctor for every small thing, and not allowing the children to engage in activities that could be perceived as dangerous or risky. This can then result in siblings who act out and engage in those dangerous or risky activities, getting injured, and thus reinforcing the parents’ self-doubt. This can become an out-of-control spiral for the family, resulting in increasing healthcare costs and more stress and strain on the family.
Avoidance of Potential Triggers
Parents may also go out of their way to try to avoid potential triggers. This can include avoiding the hospital where their child was born, even if it is the only hospital in their area. They may also avoid other new parents or anything else that reminds them of the trauma of their child’s birth. This avoidance can lead to a lack of healthcare, social isolation, and other problems.
Long-Term Impacts of Birth Injuries On Society
While the family and the child suffer the most significant long-term impacts of birth injuries, it is important to note that these injuries also have an impact on society. The child is often unable to form relationships, participate in community activities, or access employment opportunities, leading to social isolation for the child and their family. The child’s medical needs may strain the healthcare systems and social services, such as Medicaid. For example, in New Mexico, if the child is eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from the Social Security Administration, they are automatically eligible for and enrolled in Medicaid. This ongoing need for care and support through these services can lead to conflicting feelings of gratitude that those services exist while also feeling isolated or embarrassed due to the stigma that is often associated with relying on such services. In some cases, families may avoid applying for such services, even though they desperately need them, because they wish to avoid the stigma.
Additionally, many marriages become casualties of the birth injury, with the couple divorcing and the children being raised in a single parent home. With New Mexico’s high poverty rate, this means that many of those single parent homes are also low-income, causing these families to need to rely on social services such as food and housing assistance or the parents to work multiple jobs in an attempt to cobble together enough income to support their children. If the parent takes on multiple jobs, the children may not receive the parental attention they deserve, leading to a variety of additional social issues, such as children who get into legal trouble or parents having their children taken away due to perceived neglect.
Statute of Limitations and Limits on Recovery for Birth Injury Claims
While money can never undo the damage that was done by a birth injury, pursuing a birth injury claim may give the parents the money they may need to take care of their child’s health. However, parents should be aware that they only have three years to file their claim, per the New Mexico Medical Professional Liability Act. In some cases, families may have until the child’s ninth birthday to file their claim, but it is imperative that they speak with an attorney sooner rather than later to ensure that the statute of limitations does not run out and bar their claim, especially in cases where the mother is the one who was injured.
Additionally, while families may recover medical expenses and punitive damages, there are limits on additional damages they may recover. These limits vary depending on whether the family is filing a claim against an individual healthcare provider or against an entity such as a hospital or outpatient healthcare facility.
How a Medical Malpractice Attorney May Be Able to Assist Your Family
The potential long-term impacts of birth injuries can be physically, emotionally, mentally, and financially devastating for your child and your family. While there may be nothing that can be done about the physical, emotional, or mental impacts of a birth injury, a New Mexico birth injury attorney may be able to assist your family in reducing the financial damage that has been done. An experienced medical malpractice attorney at Erin Marshall Law may be able to help you collect evidence, build a strong case, and negotiate for a worthy settlement in your case. If it becomes necessary to go to court, we will fight tirelessly to protect your rights and seek the financial compensation your family deserves. Schedule your consultation to discuss your birth injury claim by calling (505) 218-9949.
