Medical mistakes resulting in birth injuries are some of the most devastating mistakes that destroy the lives of so many families. Some of the injuries that occur are temporary and the baby is eventually fine. Others result in permanent and lifelong complications, many of which were entirely preventable if only the team of doctors had worked together to avoid unnecessary risk and exposure.
What I see so often is a lack of transparency in the disclosure of information to parents so that what happens during labor and delivery of the newborn is frequently hidden from the parents. Parents want to know why and they deserve to know without having to jump through impossible hoops what went wrong. Some of the most prestigious hospitals in the country refuse to disclose their errors that needlessly result in a lifetime of medical care and destroy the dreams of the parents to have a healthy and happy new baby.
I have seen firsthand in many cases handled over the 34 years of representing parents and their newborn babies, how doctors and nurses take needless and dangerous risks when it comes to the management of labor and the delivery of a child that may be at risk. One of the most harmful birth injuries and one that is frequently preventable is known as Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy or HIE. Due to modern modalities of monitoring labor and delivery, doctors and nurses know when a baby is being stressed and when the baby is potentially at risk of experiencing a lack of oxygen during the delivery process; a condition that can lead to permanent and irreversible brain damage. Delivery techniques and delivery options need to be understood and steps need to be taken to reduce the risk of the baby suffering an avoidable lack of oxygen at the time of birth or immediately thereafter.
Many medical disasters during active labor can be prevented if the proper team of doctors and labor nurses are doing their jobs. Preventing dangerous and expensive complications before they occur is the goal of patient safety. Some hospitals are stepping up their efforts to prevent birth injuries and birth trauma. Some are even expressing a willingness to publicly report some of the main outcomes that they routinely collect. Unfortunately, when a beautiful newborn suffers a profound lack of oxygen resulting in permanent brain injury, most hospitals are not willing to be so transparent and instead immediately hire experts to come up with defenses as to why the injury could not have been avoided or how the injury occurred before the delivery process began.
I hope that the reader of this blog has never experienced the overwhelming heartache of being the victim of dangerous and substandard obstetrical care resulting in the destruction of a life. If you or a loved one has questions or knows someone that has questions about the cause of a birth injury or wants down to earth straight understandable information on the multitude of topics in this area, I encourage you to visit our website for some of our resources.
