The question of was your baby’s oxygen cut off during pregnancy or labor and delivery is an important one from a medical-legal perspective. This was a follow up question posed to me following a talk in which I stressed the need to request fetal heart strip records if you think the medical professionals caused your baby’s traumatic brain injury HIE, or hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. This brain injury happens when there is a cut off of blood and oxygen which can lead a baby to suffer a brain injury.
Our discussion today will focus on the timing of the HIE injury and why that matters. These are critical issues in birth trauma litigation. This is why if you have questions about whether the doctors and nurses caused your baby’s HIE brain injury that you speak with a birth injury lawyer.
Was Your Baby’s Oxygen Cut Off During Pregnancy Or Labor And Delivery?
One of the things the defense lawyers will raise when a baby has suffered an HIE brain injury is that they did not cause the injury. Usually, the defense will acknowledge that a brain injury happened but they will look to reveal some other cause that put the baby in their current situation. In many states if the person bringing the lawsuit cannot tie the injury to the defendant the case will not be successful.
If the hospital and medical professionals can show that the injury happened during pregnancy, and not at the hospital during labor and delivery, they can then shift the blame elsewhere for the injury. This opens genetic and developmental arguments or even possible negligence on the part of the prenatal OBGYN and practice.
As a birth injury lawyer there are things that we will review to get a good idea as to when the injury might have happened. For example, what did mom report during pregnancy? Were there concerns for decreased fetal movement? Did the OBGYN note any concerns during the weeks of the prenatal workup? Was mom able to stay on schedule regarding her visits?
The analysis does not stop with the above. We also want to know what was happening during labor and delivery while mom and baby were at the hospital. Did mom have meconium in her water when it broke? Were the initial hours of fetal heart readings reassuring? Did mom’s labor stall and there were not timely discussions as to moving for a C-section?
Finally, when the baby was born what happened? Was the baby discolored and floppy or lifeless? Did an immediate handoff to the NICU happen and the baby needed oxygen and other life support? Added to this, what were the readings from the 24-hr. ultrasound and subsequent MRI? Was hypothermia cooling needed?
All the above questions, and more, are things that a birth injury lawyer is going to cover for a family to get them answers. To speak with me further about why your baby has an HIE brain injury at birth reach out to me at my info below. There is no money cost 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
