There are very few times when someone goes to the hospital for happy reasons; however, one of the biggest examples is the birth of a child. The birth of a child is often the happiest moment of someone’s life and the only thing parents want is for their child to be healthy; however, sometimes, even this bar is too high. Birth injuries can happen from time to time and when they happen, it is important to experienced birth injury lawyers who know how to investigate the case and see what happened. One of the first steps to complete is to figure out how the injury happened in the first place.
There are a few reasons why a birth injury might happen and one of them has to do with the positioning of the baby relative to the pelvis. The baby is always supposed to come out head-first; however, there are situations when the baby might be too small for the birth canal. When this happens, the baby might have his or her arm broken as he or she passes through the canal. While broken bones in a baby usually heal with little to no issues, bone fragments stemming from the fracture might splinter and damage nearby structures. This includes the brachial plexus, which is a bundle of nerves that sits at the level of the armpit. While broken bones heal, damaged nerves can lead to permanent consequences. Therefore, if a baby suffers a bone fracture that leads to an injury of the brachial plexus, this could cause that child to lose the use of that arm.
Another way birth injuries happen is through oxygen deprivation. This is a serious concern that can happen in multiple ways. One of the most common ways that a child might suffer oxygen deprivation is to do the umbilical cord itself. While this cord is used to provide oxygen and nutrients to the baby during pregnancy, this cord can become wrapped around the neck of the baby, leading to strangulation. Oxygen deprivation can lead to brain damage from which the baby may never recover. For this reason, it is important for every parent to investigate why and how a baby might have been deprived of oxygen during the birth process.
Finally, some babies might be born with a bruise on the head. Often called a cephalohematoma, it is important to figure out how this bruise happened. In some cases, there might not be any long-term damage; however, there are also situations where this could be particularly serious. These are a few of the most common examples of the ways that birth injuries might happen. An experienced lawyer can lend a helping hand.
