Birth Injury Signs

Signs Your Dallas Newborn, Infant or Toddler May Be Affected by a Birth Injury

Birth injuries can occur during a mother’s pregnancy, labor, delivery, or post-birth of the child. Often, it’s very difficult for parents to determine whether an injury qualifies as medical malpractice on the part of a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional.

Babies are born with soft, malleable bones that are very flexible in order to travel through the birth canal. Minor injuries to both the mother and child are to be expected, especially for vaginal deliveries.

Yet figuring out the difference between a minor injury, a major injury, and medical malpractice is tough. The Dallas birth injury lawyers of Grossman Law Offices have compiled a list of signs to watch for during labor, delivery and birth, and after the birth of the child that correlate with birth injury malpractice - and correlate with minor, non-malpractice injuries. This list is not exhaustive nor is it conclusive, but provides a general overview of signs and symptoms of birth injury. If in doubt, contact Grossman Law Offices for a full review of your situation - and get the answers you and your family deserve. Call 1-855-326-0000 (toll free) for more information and to schedule your private, complimentary consultation with our birth injury attorneys.

Normal Newborn Birth Injuries

• Bruising: the birth process, especially in a vaginal delivery, will result in minor bruising and swelling along the scalp, forehead, nose, and neck due to these parts of the baby’s body forcing the birth canal to fully open. Bruises may also develop along the baby’s hips, buttocks, and legs if the baby was delivered in a breach position. Babies may also appear somewhat malformed (pointy-headed) though this is due to the pressure of the birth canal and the soft, flexible bones in the skull, shoulders and torso. Typically, bruising and malformation clears up within a few days to a week. Bruises that last longer than this or are awkwardly placed or positioned may be a cause for concern.
• Pink marks: often referred to as “stork bites”, pink marks along the forehead, neck, eyelids and face are merely dilated capillaries and are not a cause for concern. Often these birthmarks fade as the newborn ages and are barely visible by the age of one or two years old.
• Little white cysts: known as milia, these cysts appear as tiny pimples across the face. These cysts are clogged sweat glands and often clears up on its own in a matter of days to weeks.
• Broken bones: newborns with broken collarbones (broken clavicle) are rare, but don’t usually suggest birth injury medical malpractice. However, if an arm, leg, or shoulder is broken, this can be a early warning sign for long-term effects from a birth injury due to malpractice.

Signs of an Abnormal Pregnancy & Resulting Birth Injury

One major sign of an abnormal pregnancy and resulting birth injury is simply one of doctor care:

• If your doctor, obstetrician (OB) or other medical professional did not adequately track, treat, or warn you of existing or developing maternal medical conditions conditions such as preeclampsia, hypertension, diabetes, or other long-term conditions, a malpractice birth injury may result.

Similarly, if your doctor, obstetrician (OB), or other medical professional did not adequately track, treat or warn you of any fetal complications or dangers arising during your pregnancy, and a dangerous complication results, a malpractice birth injury claim may result.

Also, if your doctor, obstetrician (OB), pharmacist, or other medical professional did not adequately, treat, or warn of you of any drug side effects and their effect on your baby, a malpractice birth defect or birth injury may result. We most often see this type of action with medications prescribed for depression, asthma, diabetes, nausea, and gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. Many of these types of medications have long-term effects on a developing child and medical professionals have a duty to adequately warn a mother of these effects while she is pregnant.

Signs of an Abnormal Labor and Delivery & Resulting Birth Injury

When a mother-to-be enters a medical facility in labor, she is to be hooked up to several machines to monitor the health and status of the soon-to-be born child. Unnecessary delays by the medical staff and delivery team can quickly result in a significant birth injury. Delivery teams who go one step further and disregard the fetal monitors walk on thin ice. Disregarding fetal distress, usually shown by an abnormally high or low heart rate, often leads to significant birth injuries that may not be immediately evident, but have serious long-term effects.

At the time of delivery, several major problems can arise such as:

• Abnormal positioning of the baby which makes a vaginal delivery difficult and dangerous. An ultrasound before delivery can quickly identify whether the delivery should proceed as a c-section and prevent an unnecessarily dangerous delivery.
• An abnormally large baby and/or an unusually small birth canal in which the baby cannot pass through without significant assistance from the doctor or delivery team. Doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel are there to monitor progress and to guide the baby and mother through the birth. Pushing or pulling on the part of the doctor or nurse risks serious injury to both the mother and child.
• A procedure known as a high-forceps delivery can result in significant brain or shoulder injury if improperly performed. Forceps are used to pull the baby through the birth canal, risking injury to the brain, neck, spinal cord, and nerve bundles of the newborn child.

At the birth of the child, signs and symptoms of birth injury include:

• Symptoms of asphyxia (no oxygen in the blood) - pale in color, lifeless-looking, weakly breathing or not breathing at all, slow heart rate, suggesting brain injury.
• Symptoms of hypoxia (too little oxygen in the blood) - blue in color, weak or not breath, slowed heart rate, suggesting a brain injury. Hypoxia or asphyxia can suggest a drug interaction, either during the pregnancy or with an epidural at the time of delivery, or an improper delivery on the part of the delivery team. These two conditions can result in serious organ issues, delayed development, possible retardation, and significant long-term care needs.
• Low APGAR scores - an APGAR score relates to the basic health of the baby at the time of birth and is based on a one to ten scale. Scores are calculated at one minute after birth, and scores less than six indicate the baby needs medical attention. Scoring is then repeated at later intervals (three, five, ten, fifteen, and thirty minutes after birth) to fully assess how the baby is doing post-birth. Scores less than five at these intervals may suggest long-term neurological damage, a heightened risk for delayed development, retardation, cerebral palsy or other brain injury, and often correlates with a need for constant long-term care.

After the birth of the child, signs and symptoms suggesting birth injury malpractice include:

• The child has little to no interest in feeding or exhibits problems with instinctual feeding mechanisms such suckling and grappling, but not attachment issues.
• The child is sluggish or lethargic and exhibits asymmetrical movements in the face, arms, or legs. Often parents describe their child as looking out of only one eye, showing half-smiles, or strictly favoring one side of the body more than the other.
• The child shows signs of seizures, including a tense and rigid body, glassy eyes, a faraway look, and unusual brain activity.

Long Term Signs and Symptoms of Birth Injury Malpractice

In many cases, birth injuries are not diagnosed immediately at or following the birth of the child. Most obstetricians, pediatricians, and other medical personnel wait until the child exhibits signs of developmental delays before providing a long-term diagnosis of a birth injury, such as cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, or other neurological or brain injuries. Rarely will a doctor tell a family how this injury occurred, focusing instead on the therapies, accommodations, and long-term care the child will need for the rest of their life.

Yet a full, in depth review of the pregnancy, delivery, birth, and resulting treatment of both the mother and child is critical to determining whether a birth injury could have been prevented - and whether a doctor, nurse or other medical staff was negligent in his or her duties toward both the mother and unborn child. An experienced birth injury attorney and the medical malpractice legal team can not only provide a review and investigation of what happened during your pregnancy and delivery, but provide you several options, legal and otherwise, for how to best proceed and ensure your child receives the best care possible. Call the highly knowledgeable birth injury lawyer Michael Grossman of Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-326-0000 (toll free) now for your comprehensive and confidential review of your situation.