Medical personnel present in a delivery room are supposed to provide assistance to better ensure a safe and smooth delivery process. However, not all personnel are as keen as they need to be, and sometimes avoidable medical errors lead to birth injuries.
Birth injuries can be life-altering for the affected child and their family, potentially leading to long-term physical, cognitive and emotional challenges that can profoundly impact their quality of life.
What avoidable medical errors cause birth injury?
The following avoidable medical errors commonly result in birth injuries:
- Delayed delivery: When an expectant mother experiences prolonged labor without timely intervention, it can lead to birth injuries such as oxygen deprivation (hypoxia), which may result in conditions like cerebral palsy or developmental delays.
- Incorrect use of forceps or vacuum extractors: Improper application of these delivery instruments can cause trauma to the baby’s head, resulting in skull fractures, brain bleeds or nerve damage.
- Failure to recognize and address fetal distress: Inadequate monitoring or misinterpretation of fetal heart rate patterns can lead to delayed response to signs of distress, increasing the risk of birth complications and injuries.
- Mismanagement of maternal health conditions: Failure to properly manage conditions like gestational diabetes or preeclampsia can double the risk of birth injuries such as macrosomia (large birth weight) or placental abruption.
- Medication errors: Administering incorrect doses of medications, including anesthesia or pain relief drugs, can lead to adverse effects on the mother or baby, potentially causing birth injuries or complications.
- Inadequate prenatal care: Insufficient monitoring or failure to address maternal health concerns during pregnancy can result in undetected issues that may contribute to birth injuries during delivery.
- Inadequate neonatal resuscitation: Improper resuscitation techniques or delayed initiation of resuscitation efforts following birth can result in oxygen deprivation and related birth injuries, such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) or cerebral palsy.
Victims of birth injuries due to negligence by medical personnel can pursue legal action for medical malpractice in order to seek justice and hold accountable those responsible for the harm inflicted upon them and their child. Seeking personalized legal guidance is a good way to get started.