Some birth injuries are truly unpredictable and are, therefore, very difficult to prevent. Others may have a direct association with the choices made by medical professionals. Birth injuries can be life-altering to the entire family.
Obviously, the child with the injury may have a lifetime of medical care and support needs because of their acquired health condition. The family members may have to provide them with more support and may lose out on earning potential because they stay home to care for the child with special needs.
In situations where people can prove that a birth injury was the result of a medical mistake or negligence on the part of healthcare professionals, they may be able to take legal action against the hospital or against specific medical professionals who attended the birth. The following are the medical mistakes that have the strongest association with preventable birth injuries.
Failing to monitor s fetus
Typically, those working in labor and delivery wards have to monitor the status of both the mother and her unborn child consistently. While a mother can communicate when she is in distress, The unborn infant cannot. Fetal heart rate monitoring is the only means of detecting a fetus going into distress, possibly because of an issue with the umbilical cord. Inadequate fetal monitoring may result in delayed interventions and permanent birth injuries.
Intervening unnecessarily
Birth is one of the most natural processes. Best practices in the obstetric world include allowing labor to proceed naturally unless something noticeable goes wrong. When medical professionals intervene unnecessarily by attempting to speed up contractions or otherwise manipulate the labor process, things can quickly spiral out of control. The medical professionals may trigger a cascade of interventions that culminate in a preventable birth injury. Healthcare professionals must balance the necessity of interventions with the risk associated with those forms of care.
Choosing the wrong interventions
Some healthcare professionals fail to customize the treatment plan for a woman in labor. They may fail to consider her unique needs and may offer the wrong types of support. Other times, they may offer medication or treatments that are no longer considered safe for women in labor. The results of those errors in judgment could be preventable birth injuries because the mother and child received the wrong types of care.
If families can connect a recent birth injury with inappropriate medical practices, they may have grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit. Malpractice litigation can potentially help families recoup lost wages and medical expenses incurred due to a preventable birth injury.