The terms "birth injury" or “birth trauma” ordinarily refer to injuries to a baby that result from complications during labor and delivery.

Common Birth Injuries
Birth injuries range from mild to severe, ranging from minor bruising to nerve or brain damage. Common injuries include:

• Bruising and Forceps Marks - Sometimes a baby will have bruising on the face or head simply from passing though the birth canal, and from associated contact with the mother's pelvic bones and tissues. If forceps are used during delivery, they may leave temporary marks or bruises on the baby's head. Vacuum extraction can also cause brusing to the head, and may cause a scalp laceration. In extreme cases, forceps use can cause depressed skull fractures and more serious injuries, which may require surgical elevation.
  
  
• Subconjunctival Hemorrhage - This common birth injury results in bright red band around the iris of one or both of the baby's eyes. This does not cause damage to the eyes, and usually disappears completely within a week to ten days.
  
  
• Caput Succedaneum - This is a severe swelling of the baby's scalp, and is more likely to occur as a result of vacuum extraction. The swelling will ordinarily disappear within a few days.
  
  
• Cephalohematoma - This term refers to bleeding between a bone and its fibrous covering. With regard to childbirth, this type of injury is typically seen on the baby's head. A cephalohematoma will ordinarily resolve within two weeks to three months. If a cephalohematoma is particularly large, the baby may become jaundiced as the red blood cells break down.
  
  
• Facial Paralysis - Pressure on the baby's face during labor or birth, or the use of forceps during childbirth, may cause injury to a baby's facial nerves. If a nerve is merely bruised, the paralysis will ordinarily clear up within a few weeks. With more severe nerve damage, it may be necessary to surgically repair the damaged facial nerves.
  
  
• Brachial Palsy Injuries (Erb's Palsy and Klumpke's Palsy) - this condition occurs when the brachial plexus (the group of nerves that controls movement of the arms and hands) is injured. This injury most often results from "shoulder dystocia", a term which describes birth difficultes which result when the baby's shoulders impair its passage through the birth canal. When injury causes only bruising or swelling, the baby will ordinarily recover within three months. In more severe cases, there may be permanent nerve damage, and physical therapy and surgery may be required.
  
  
• Fractured Bones - The most common bone fracture is to the clavicle (collar bone), usually during difficult births or breech delivery. In most cases, the baby recovers once the bone is immobilized.
  
• Brain Injury - Birth difficulties can result in oxygen deprivation to the baby as a result of blood loss, or the twisting or compression of the umbilical cord. Prolonged oxygen deprivation can cause brain damage, and may result in seizure disorders, cerebral palsy, mental impairment, and paralysis.
  
  

Causes of Birth Injuries
Injuries to a baby are more likely during a difficult delivery. The difficulty of delivery may be affected by such factors as:

• The baby's size. When a baby weighs more than eight pounds, thirteen ounces (four kilograms), birth injury becomes more likely. Similarly, premature babies (those born before 37 weeks) are more susceptible to injury.
  
  
• Cephalopelvic Disproportion - When the size and shape of the mother's pelvis is not adequate for the child to be born by vaginal delivery.
  
  
• Difficult labor or childbirth ("Dystocia"), or prolonged labor.
  
  
• The baby's position - a "breech birth", where the child's buttocks or legs are presented first, is more likey to result in birth injury.

If a mother experienced complications during a prior birth, doctors should be on alert for possible complications during any subsequent birth.

Medical Errors
Medical errors can cause birth injuries, or can increase their severity or permanence. Medical errors which may support a malpractice action include:

• Failure to anticipate birth complications with a larger baby;
  
• Failure to respond appropriately to bleeding;
  
• Failing to observe or respond to umbilical cord entrapment;
  
• Failure to respond to fetal distress (including irregularities in the fetal heartbeat);
  
• Misuse of forceps or a vacuum extractor during delivery;
  
• Inappropriate administration of Pitocin, a synthesized hormone used to induce or augment (speed up) labor;
  
• Failure to follow established methods to manage shoulder dystocia;
  
• Failure or delay in ordering caesarian section (c-section) when medically necessary.
  
• Additionally, injuries can result to a baby as a result of poor care delivered after the birth, including mistakes made during a circumcision, or failure to properly attend to an infection.

Time Limits on Filing Suit
Every case has a statute of limitations that will apply. It varies by the type of case and the state where the case is filed. Don't wait until there is trouble or until the end of your case to get an attorney. Your attorney would prefer to be involved every step of the way, to monitor your case, to guide you, to prevent trouble, and to assist you.

Most families simply don't have the financial resources to cover all the expenses to provide for the injured child over his or her lifetime.

That's where Irwin & Boesen comes in to help your child receive the compensation they will need to provide for their future medical, rehabilitation, and life care expenses. Please contact our attorneys for a free consultation.

If you or a loved one has been injured by the negligence of another person or company, please contact us for an honest and fair evaluation of your case.