After nine months of a healthy pregnancy, a Joliet couple might not expect to encounter any major problems during the labor and birth of their child. Should any complications arise, though, parents do expect Will County medical professionals to follow proper protocols and to closely monitor their unborn baby to make sure that their son or daughter is delivered as safely as possible.
To better prevent birth injuries, one mother believes that U.S. doctors need to do a better job of informing mothers and their partners about some possible complications they could experience during labor, even when their pregnancy is normal. The mother said that her child suffered a brachial plexus injury during birth due to complications during labor. As a result of the injury, her son has had to undergo surgery to try to fix nerve damage near his shoulder and he has only limited use of his arm.
The mother believes that her son’s injuries could have been prevented. Had she been more informed about shoulder dystocia, she might have been able to take certain precautions to ensure the safe delivery of her child. Now she hopes to share her story so that other parents do not have to experience a traumatic labor and delivery as she did with her son.
Shoulder dystocia sometimes occurs during vaginal births. It is when a baby’s shoulder or both shoulders get stuck behind the mother’s pelvic bone. This makes it difficult to deliver a child vaginally, but doctors are trained to use special maneuvers when shoulder dystocia does happen so that a child can be delivered without any injuries. When doctors fail to recognize that a baby may be stuck in the birth canal, they could cause a brachial plexus injury by putting too much pressure on a child’s head or shoulder.
The mother said that her son suffered a brachial plexus injury while she was pushing to try to deliver her child for four hours. Had doctors properly monitored the woman and her baby during labor and while she was pushing, doctors could have prevented the child’s debilitating injuries.
If your child suffered a brachial plexus injury and you experienced a similar situation during labor, your doctor might have been responsible for causing the injury. To learn more about your options as a victim of medical malpractice, you may want to consider working with an attorney who knows how to protect the rights of parents and children who were harmed during birth.
Source: WWAY3, “Local mom warns of birth injuries,” Ashley Jacobs, June 26, 2012
