After giving birth you have now learned that your child is suffering from brachial plexus palsy. Based on this information, you are now wondering how this could have happened and what exactly is this condition. Want to learn more? Stay tuned.
Hello, I am Maryland medical malpractice attorney Marcus Boston and I would like to talk with you today about a certain type of child birth injury, brachial plexus palsy. To better understand brachial plexus palsy, you need to be familiar with the term, shoulder dystocia, because in many instances brachial plexus palsy occurs during shoulder dystocia. During child birth, when the baby’s head is delivered but the shoulder is trapped behind the pelvis.
Once this occurs, a delivery room emergency is present because if doctors cannot free the child’s shoulder, death can occur, usually by suffocation. Doctors are taught multiple maneuvers to dislodge the child’s shoulder, namely the McRoberts maneuver. However, where problems can occur is when a doctor panics and begins to apply pressure to the child’s head. None of the maneuvers doctors are taught require the doctor to touch the child’s head because of the damage this can cause.
Brachial plexus palsy is the result of the doctor putting too much force on the child’s head or shoulder area during delivery. This can damage the nerves in the child’s shoulder. As a result, the child’s arm can become weak or paralyzed. Even though a shoulder dystocia situation is an emergency, doctors have to remain calm and follow the standard of care in this type of situation.
So why am I explaining this to you today? Because you are probably wondering whether the doctor during your delivery followed the standard of care. Because you have questions and now you want to speak to someone. Here’s what you can do. Pick up the phone and give me a call. I can be reached at 301-850-4832. If you think that email is a better way to tell your story, send me an email at medicalinjury “at” bostonlawllc.com (Remember to replace the “at” with @). We answer questions like yours all the time and we would be glad to hear your story.
