HIE and labor and delivery malpractice is a topic that is of frequent discussion with families who contact us. Essentially the families are asking how we know if their baby’s HIE diagnosis occurred during labor and delivery. HIE and labor and delivery malpractice is an important concept to understand when looking to start a birth injury investigation.
The focus in today’s educational video is to explain HIE and labor and delivery malpractice from a point of view of a family looking to understand some of the issues present. For specifics regarding your issues, please talk with a birth injury attorney for clarification.
What Can Cause HIE (Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy)?
Before tackling the issue of HIE and labor and delivery malpractice, it is important to understand that just because there is a result that you did not expect, this does not mean that medical malpractice is the cause of the result. HIE, in our context is a reduction of blood and oxygen which can lead to a brain injury.
In some instances, HIE can be caused by genetic and developmental issues. When this happens, this can be the “fault” so to speak, of no one. These issues can happen early in conception and continue to manifest themselves through the pregnancy. For some babies, genetic and other testing will reveal these types of things which can lead to a traumatic brain injury.
Other issues can lead to an HIE injury too. For example, if there is a compression of the umbilical cord, this can cause a reduction of blood and oxygen. If there are placental problems, like placental abruption, this too can cause blood and oxygen problems. The medical condition uterine rupture can interfere with a baby’s blood and oxygen supply.
HIE And Labor And Delivery Malpractice
As for the issue of HIE and labor and delivery malpractice, if there are no genetic/developmental issues present, and a baby suffers the brain injury HIE, labor and delivery should be investigated. As it pertains to a birth injury investigation, the review of the electronic fetal heart monitor strips can help give an understanding of what was happening with a baby, in real time.
During an HIE and labor and delivery malpractice investigation, the attorney will be looking to see if there were readings present which give rise to understanding that the baby is not doing well during labor and delivery. Specifically, any information which give rise to blood and oxygen issues will have to be assessed. Some of these issues are, whether prolonged late deceleration patterns are present, or whether the baby’s heart rate is too low, or too high, or, whether variability issues are present. All of what was just mentioned can happen individually, or together.
Where issues of malpractice during labor and delivery can present themselves are when doctors and nurses fall below the standard of care in treating mom and baby, and this causes the HIE injury. For example, if the strips are non-reassuring and doctors and nurses take the wrong treatment measures, and an HIE injury occurs, there can be a strong argument that malpractice may have occurred.
If your baby has suffered an HIE injury and you have questions as to whether this injury occur during labor and delivery, I invite you to pick up the phone and call me. I speak with families like yours all the time about these issues and I will be happy to listen to your baby’s story. My contact information can be found below. I am a birth injury attorney who helps families in Prince George’s County, Baltimore City, and all other counties in Maryland.
Marcus B. Boston, Esq.
2 Wisconsin Circle, Suite 700
Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815
1-833-4 BABY HELP
