When a Baby Suffers a
Birth Injury

The day your baby is delivered – a day that begins with such promise, but marred by an injury to your baby which may have far-reaching consequences.

A birth injury is harm suffered by the baby during the birthing process, usually occurring during travel through the birth canal. A difficult delivery, with the risk of injury to the baby, may occur if the birth canal is too small or the baby is too large (as sometimes occurs when the mother has diabetes). Injury is also more likely if the baby is lying in an abnormal position before birth. When these conditions are present, medical care providers should take appropriate steps to minimize the danger to the baby and mother.

Some of the most common birth injuries result from two very different conditions known as cerebral palsy and Erbs (or brachial) palsy. Both cerebral and Erbs palsy are often the result of complications during child delivery itself, though cerebral palsy can sometimes occur before or some time after delivery.

Cerebral palsy is the generic term for a number of disorders affecting a baby's brain function and body movement. Cerebral palsy can be the result of an injury to a baby's brain in the womb, during delivery, or some time after birth. It can also be caused by a lack of oxygen flow to a baby's brain during delivery.

A treating physician/obstetrician's failure to recognize the need to provide adequate oxygen to the baby, such as by caesarean section, or unreasonable delay in performing the procedure may result in cerebral palsy.

In a difficult delivery of a large infant, some of the larger nerves to one or both of the newborn's arms can be stretched and injured. Erbs (or brachial) palsy occurs in about two out of every 1,000 child deliveries, when a baby suffers injury to the brachial plexus. The brachial plexus is a group of nerves that travel from the spinal cord up the arm, supplying the arms and hands. Erbs palsy happens most often during delivery when excessive pressure is put on the baby's head, neck, or shoulder because of difficulty delivering the shoulder area (known as "shoulder dystocia"). The condition occurs most frequently in babies of higher-than-average birth weight, and can happen when forceps or vacuum devices are used with too much pressure during delivery.

Other nerves may be damaged during delivery. Pressure to the facial nerves caused by forceps can result in weakness of the muscles on one side of the face. This injury is evident when the newborn cries and the face appears asymmetric. No treatment is needed, and the newborn usually recovers within a few weeks.

Occasionally, the nerve going to the diaphragm (the muscle that separates the organs of the chest from those of the abdomen) is damaged, resulting in paralysis of the diaphragm on the same side. In this case, the newborn may have difficulty breathing.

Injuries to the spinal cord due to overstretching during delivery are extremely rare. These injuries can result in paralysis below where the injury occurred. Damage to the spinal cord is often permanent.

Some birth complications cannot be avoided, but many can be, or at least the consequences minimized. A birth injury claim, or medical malpractice claim, is not limited to the conduct of medical doctors, but applies also to nurses, anesthesiologists, health care facilities, pharmaceutical companies, and hospitals.

With most births taking place in a hospital, often it is the hospital’s employees responsible for the negligent care. Hospitals are corporations that are either public or private entities. In the context of medical malpractice actions, hospitals can be held directly liable for their own negligence, and can also be held "vicariously" liable for the negligence of their employees. Vicarious liability means a party is held responsible not for its own negligence, but for the negligence of another.

How we helped a family with a birth injury claim:

Failure to Monitor Results in Severe Oxygen Deprivation

Client was under the care of her OB/GYN, for client's pregnancy and delivery of Baby A. At birth, Baby A had a slow heart beat, was cyanotic and flaccid. OB/GYN failed to recognize the signs and symptoms of Baby A’s fetal distress during Client's labor, and did not expedite delivery (perform a C-section). Instead, the doctor attempted to use forceps to deliver Baby A. The delays in delivery resulted in Baby A suffering multi-organ system and brain damage. After fewer than three months, Baby A died in her parents’ home. The OB/GYN agreed to a confidential settlement.