How An Uneventful Pregnancy Lead To A Baby With A Broken Arm At Birth…

How an uneventful pregnancy lead to a baby with a broken arm at birth.

I was recently contacted by a mother who had recently given birth to a baby with, in her words, “a broken arm.” To her much of her confusion surrounded the fact that her doctors did not mention anything about the baby’s arm not “developing right” in any of her prenatal visits. Based on her understanding of things, the baby’s arm should have been fine.

However, following birth she learned that the baby had a broken arm and there was a concern regarding nerve damage. In her quest to find answers, she learn of the medical condition shoulder dystocia. This research shed some light as to how an uneventful pregnancy lead to a baby with a broken arm at birth

WHAT IS SHOULDER DYSTOCIA?

Shoulder dystocia is a medical condition in which a baby can become trapped, or stuck, behind a mother’s pelvis. Shoulder dystocia is considered a medical emergency because if the baby is not freed in enough time a serious, if not fatal injury, can occur.

Doctors are taught certain maneuvers to help free a baby in a shoulder dystocia situation. For example, the McRoberts maneuver, among others, can be used to assist doctors. One important note is that the techniques doctors are taught do not require them to use pulling “force” on the baby, for self-explanatory reasons. Force can cause serious injury to a child in the areas of the head, neck, arm, and hand.

Some of the risk factors for shoulder dystocia include:

A large baby
Gestational diabetes
Obesity
Giving birth after the due date
A past shoulder dystocia delivery
Induced labor
Provider tools used during labor and delivery

SHOULDER DYSTOCIA AND SOME OF THE LONG TERM ISSUES…

When a shoulder dystocia injury is present, one of the key issues present will be what type of long term challenges might your child face. For example, were the brachial plexus nerves injured and if so what will be the long term prognosis? Nerve injuries are always problematic because these injures can severely limit the use of the child’s arm, or hand.

One fact to remember is that a baby early on in life can heal in ways that we as adults cannot. So a Maryland birth injury attorney is going to want to review all of the medical records and facts surrounding these cases to get a feel for the child’s long term challenges, if any.