Did your baby suffer a birth injury? By birth injury I mean following birth did you learn for example, that your baby has a brain injury, or some other serious injury? When we speak to some parents, we learn that in some cases the family has little to no clue about what is transpiring during labor and delivery, through no fault of theirs.
In this birth injury article, I am going to outline some of the important areas of review when looking to understand after the fact, what may have happened during labor and which may have contributed to your baby’s birth injury. These points of interest will get you started down the path for answers, hopefully.
WHAT IS THE FETAL HEART MONITOR?
During labor and delivery, doctors and nurses use an important tool to help them gauge how well your baby is doing during labor and delivery. Many parents are not that well versed in the workings of the fetal heart monitor. With that said, on its most basic level, the monitor reveals how well your baby is tolerating a vaginal delivery. It does this by monitoring your baby’s heart rate, early decelerations, late decelerations, variability, among other things.
Doctors and nurses are trained to correctly read and interpret the readings of the electronic fetal heart monitor. The failure to properly read and interpret the monitor can lead to disaster to the baby in some cases. This can hold true for the mother in some cases where the mother suffers an injury during labor and delivery and the injury is being manifested through problems revealed on the fetal heart monitor.
BIRTH INJURY? WHAT YOUR OB MAY NOT HAVE TOLD YOU. . .
As I stated above, if the doctors and nurses fail to read the fetal monitor the right way, an injury to the baby can occur. This is because the readings can reveal if the baby is in distress or has a non-reassuring reading. Fetal distress can have many underlying causes, with one major cause being the lack of blood and oxygen getting to the baby.
When we speak to some parents, we learn that in some cases, the OB and nurses in the delivery room never tell the parents that the baby is in distress or has a non-reassuring strip on the monitor. If the doctors and nurses have improperly interpreted the reading, then the information being relayed to the family will be incorrect! So, in a case where the family should be advised to move to an emergency C-Section, this conversation will not occur because the OB is relaying bad information to the family.
LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR BABY’S HYPOXIC ISCHEMIC ENCEPHALOPATHY. . .
Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, or HIE, is a medical condition babies can suffer from when they experience a reduced level of blood and oxygen, leading to a brain injury. This is why it is important that the information reflected in the fetal heart monitor is correct.
If you are reading this article because your baby has been diagnosed with HIE or there were problems during labor or delivery, and you are wondering if this is a medical malpractice case, this is what I invite you to do. Call me at 301-850-4832.
I talk with families regarding birth injuries dealing with the brain, blood or oxygen loss, cerebral palsy, and other types of injuries all the time and I would be happy to listen to what happened with you and your baby.
Marcus B. Boston, Esq.
2 Wisconsin Circle, Suite 700
Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815
bostonlawllc.com
301-850-4832
1-833-4 BABY HELP