At every step of your family’s pregnancy, you took precautions. A nourishing and healthy diet, vitamin supplements, plenty of rest, just the right amount of exercise along with regular medical appointments with your physician. You wanted to make sure things were just right for the birth of a healthy baby.
But all this careful planning did not prepare you for what happened in the delivery room: a childbirth injury. Such a scenario happens and can affect the infant as well as the mother. Oxygen deprivation can lead to serious complications for the child, and the mother can suffer from heavy bleeding and even a stroke. In many of these cases, the injury was caused by the negligence of the health care staff.
Negligence from medical staff
In most cases, childbirth injuries are preventable. Among the types of such injuries include:
- Serious brain injury for the infant, potentially leading to recurring seizures and cerebral palsy.
- Nerve damage to the infant, leading to facial paralysis as well as the inability to move hands and arms.
- Fractures to the infant, caused by the physician pulling too hard during the delivery.
- Lacerations to the infant’s scalp due to incorrect usage of an extraction tool such as a forceps.
- Bleeding on the baby’s brain
- Massive hemorrhages to the mother during childbirth.
- Severe vaginal tears and loss of uterus to the mother.
- Strokes, blood clots and heart failure to the mother.
Complications during childbirth can lead to tragic scenarios with long-lasting ramifications. The struggles your family now faces likely were preventable. If negligence on the part of the health care staff is suspected and may have caused the childbirth injuries, it is crucial to get legal advice.