For today’s discussion we will cover a baby’s life expectancy with an HIE brain injury at birth. This is an extremely emotional topic and understandably so. Even though there are studies, models, and charts that cover this issue, life expectancy is not something that can be predicted to the second with 100% accuracy by any human. I want to make sure that this is clear before I move forward.
If you are a family with a newborn and you have been recently given an HIE diagnosis for your child, do not lose hope! Take each day one day at a time.
Baby’s Life Expectancy With An HIE Brain Injury
Baby life expectancy with an HIE brain injury can vary based on the specific literature that you review. For example, when prepping for this educational article I found an article that stated,” around 20%-50% of infants with HIE die early in infancy. Of those who survive around 25%-60% will have neurological disabilities like cerebral palsy.”
With the above stated, there are a lot of factors which will contribute to these percentages. For example, what is the severity of the brain injury? Is the HIE diagnosis mild, moderate, or severe? Is there multi-organ involvement with the injury? Was hypothermia cooling performed? What issues were presented during labor and delivery? As you can clearly see, there are many factors which must be reviewed, and I did not list everything, when discussing life expectancy.
A Birth Injury Attorney’s Experience With Life Expectancy
The reason why I mentioned above that parents who have a child with an HIE birth injury should take it one day at a time is because at my firm we have had families who have called us and told us that the doctors have told them that their baby would only live a matter of days and that has not been the case. For instance, this happened to two of our recent families and those children are now 6 and 10, respectively. With that said we have had things go in the other direction too. The point being we can never really know with 100% certainty how this will play out with an HIE diagnosis.
This is why when parents call us to help them find answers as to their baby’s HIE diagnosis we work extremely hard to get them the resources they will need to live the best life possible given the circumstances. To speak with me further about your baby’s HIE diagnosis at birth contact me at my information below. Remember it does not cost you anything to speak with me initially about your baby’s story. This is what we do.
Marcus B. Boston, Esq.
9701 Apollo Dr. Suite 100
Largo, Maryland 20774
301-850-4832
1-833-4 BABY HELP
