Since my practice focuses upon
birth injury cases, most of my clients come to me with questions about what happened
to their baby, and whether it could, or should, have been prevented.
The first step is always identifying the mechanism of injury? Was it distress
during labor that resulted in
hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), which means brain damage due to inadequate oxygen, or was it one
of a number of other unpreventable causes such as a genetic abnormality?
The next question is when did the injury occur? Did a hypoxic event occur
silently, and without any telltale signs or other symptoms, days or weeks
before labor began, under circumstances that no one could have prevented?
Or, did it occur at the hospital, with an electronic fetal heart monitor
in place producing a tracing that should have alerted the healthcare providers
of impending harm?
The obstetrical and pediatric organizations have reached a consensus on
the criteria that must be present in order for
cerebral palsy to be blamed on hypoxia around the time of birth. Those criteria include
such factors as the pH of the baby’s blood at birth, the presence
of certain neurological signs or symptoms, as well as the specific type
of cerebral palsy involved.
Neuroimaging often can be used to establish the timing of a hypoxic event,
based on factors such as the onset of swelling. This requires the services
of a very skilled and experienced neuroradiologist who can also determine
whether the injury resulted from total, or intermittent hypoxia. There
are often issues that require the expertise of placental pathologists,
neonatologists and pediatric neurologists as well.
The next step is to determine whether the injury could have been prevented.
To investigate this issue, it is usually necessary to involve maternal-fetal
specialists or obstetricians who can interpret fetal heart monitor tracings
and address the issue of when intervention should have occurred.
Birth injury cases are complicated. If you retain an attorney to investigate
the cause of your child’s cerebral palsy, make sure to retain one
with extensive expertise and an established track record in this area.
Related Stories:
- Assisted Delivery May Pose Threat of Brain Injuries
- Establishing the Cause of a Baby’s Brain Injury
- How Can a Baby’s Brain be Injured During Birth?