Our Doctor is board
certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology. He
has delivered thousands of babies, and handled
hundreds of high risk pregnancies. He is recognized
by his colleagues and the community as an
expert in the Obstetrics and Gynecology field.
It's not your fault. You may be confused and wondering if you did anything to cause your baby to suffer. You did not. Many injuries or defects could be caused by health care providers who gave you or your baby inappropriate or poor care and treatment during the pregnancy, during the birthing process or even later.
How did your baby get Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral palsy or CP is caused by an injury to the brain before, during, or shortly after birth. In many cases, no one knows for sure what caused the brain injury or what may have been done to prevent the injury.
The most important thing to remember is that you do not "catch" CP from another person, and you do not develop CP later in life. It is caused by an injury to the brain near the time of birth.
Here are some common Doctor's mistakes that may have caused your baby to be suffering:
Your
Baby's Heart Rate - Changing fetal condition during labor,
particularly changes in fetal heart rate, to which the doctor or nurse
did not properly respond.
Your Prenatal Health -
Changing health conditions during pregnancy, which
the doctor or nurse were not properly diagnosing,
treating or assessing. For example, change in blood pressure, adverse
effects from the use of Prostaglandin or cervical
softening agents to help induce labor, excessive
or inadequate weight gain, premature contractions,
excessive contractions, premature labor, leaking
amniotic fluid, and bloody show.
Your Medical History -
Medical staff at the doctor's office or at the hospital
may have failed to obtain your complete medical
history from including a history of your family
or hereditary conditions, or of your prior pregnancies.
Diagnostic
Testing - Medical staff may have
failed to order or properly interpret specific
tests during pregnancy (such as a fetal non-stress
test ("NST"),
a fetal biophysical profile ("BPP"), a fetal ultrasound,
or a glucose tolerance test of the mother).
Cesarean/C-Section
delayed -
Medical staff may have failed to perform a cesarean
section early enough during labor to avoid brain
damage to the baby as a result of fetal distress,
infection, or trauma.
Pre-Natal Blood
Tests -
Medical staff at the doctor's office or at the
hospital may have failed to properly monitor
the pregnant mother's blood pressure or blood
sugar levels during the pregnancy, which can
result in significant injuries to both mother
and baby.
Improper Delivery -
The doctor or hospital may have improperly encouraged
or counseled the mother to undergo a vaginal delivery
despite the fact she had a cesarean section delivery
in an earlier pregnancy.
Untreated Infection -
The doctor or hospital may have failed to diagnose
or treat Group B Beta Hemolytic Streptococcus
infection in the mother or her baby, which if left
untreated can cause significant brain
damage to the baby.
Premature Delivery -
The doctor or hospital may have failed to timely
diagnose or prevent preterm or premature labor or
delivery. This is not always preventable,
but the doctors and hospitals can do a great deal to lessen
the risk of harm to the baby by dealing
with the problem properly. At times,
they can prolong the pregnancy so the baby
can mature in the uterus rather than
suffer from the complications or injuries that
are often seen in infants that are delivered
prematurely.
Emergency C-Section
(Cesarean) - The doctor
or hospital may have failed to timely call for
or perform an emergency cesarean section surgery
to deliver the baby. Under certain emergencies,
the rules governing the doctor and hospital mandate
that they must start the surgery not more than
30 minutes after it was decided that the emergency
surgery needed to be performed. This is known
in the medical profession as the "decision
to incision rule.
Diagnosis of Size
of Baby - The doctor
may have failed to properly determine the size
of the baby during the pregnancy or may have failed
to realize that there were problems in the pregnancy
that were affecting the size of the baby (for
example, diabetes in the mother or high blood pressure
in the mother). This can result in complications
if the baby is too small ("intrauterine growth restriction")
or if the baby is too big ("macrosomia").
If the baby is too big, during a vaginal delivery the
baby could get stuck in the birth canal, which can
lead to devastating injuries to the baby (including
lack of oxygen to the brain or injuries to the arms
or shoulders.
Vacuum/forceps - The doctor may have
improperly used a vacuum extractor or forceps to assist
in the delivery of the baby. The vacuum or forceps
are applied by the doctor to the baby's head within
the birth canal and the doctor can then pull the baby
out as the mother pushes. Improper use of these tools
can result in skull fractures, facial scarring, nerve
injuries to the baby, bleeding in the baby's brain
and brain damage.
