Birth Injury
Regardless of whether you are a potential parent that is currently expecting or a seasoned parent with multiple children that is expecting another, you normally have one common goal, to give birth safely. Undoubtedly, you have researched which facility you will use when you go into labor, and you are keenly aware of the health risks, for both you and your baby, associated with giving birth. Despite how much you may have prepared for going into labor, you are ultimately placing your life and the life of your newborn child in the hands of a doctor. Unfortunately, doctors are human, and they do make mistakes. This fact becomes abundantly clear when you consider the number of avoidable birth injuries that take place in the United States. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, there were nearly 157,000 potentially avoidable injuries to both mothers and infants during birth in 2006, and according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the infant mortality rate in the U.S. was 5.87 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2016. Moreover, unintentional injuries were the third leading cause of post-neonatal infant mortality in the United States as of 2016, accounting for 27.4 deaths per 100,000 births according to the CDC. Although there is an ongoing effort to lower the infant mortality rate in our country, injuries sustained by infants and mothers during birth are still a major problem, which is why every parent should be aware of some of the most common causes of birth injuries in the U.S.Contact Our Experienced Birth Injury Lawyers
Four Common Causes of Birth Injuries
Injuries During Assisted Labor
When a mother is giving birth, a doctor will often use a vacuum or forceps to pull the infant through the birth canal while the mother is pushing, but when this technique is done incorrectly, it can cause both the mother and the infant to sustain injuries. Injuries associated with this technique are known as obstetric trauma with the use of an instrument. In 2006, obstetric trauma with the use of an instrument was the leading cause of birth injuries in the United States. Common injuries associated with obstetric trauma include:- Skull Fractures
- Collar Bone Fractures
- Brain Damage
Failing to Perform an Emergency C-Section
As any parent will tell you, going through labor is stressful, really stressful, which is why we rely on doctors to make important decisions during the labor process. In certain emergency situations, doctors are forced to perform an emergency cesarean section, C-section, in order to save your baby’s life or to ensure the infant is born safely. Unfortunately, some doctors will hesitate to perform a C-section when it is needed, and this delay in performing the procedure can injure your child permanently. Common injuries associated with delays in performing a C-section include:- Brain damage
- Cerebral palsy
- Developmental disabilities