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Birth
Injuries
Every year
thousands of healthy babies are born to the delight of
parents and their families. However, in a handful of
cases obstetricians and other health care providers make
errors which cause injuries to the mother and sometimes
her baby.
Often when
errors are made, the baby is left without oxygen for a
prolonged period of time, or physically injured by the
delivery process. Babies injured in this way can have
serious and permanent physical and neurological (brain)
injuries, including cerebral palsy.
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There are about 40 to 50
lawsuits started in Canada each year involving allegations that
a baby was seriously harmed during birth. About 25% of these
cases result in payments to the injured child. Most of these
cases fall into one of the categories described below.
Common Errors
Made During Delivery
Delay in
Delivery
The most
common cause of lawsuits involving injury to a baby is
a delay in the delivery of the baby.
Delivery is a
critical stage in the birth of any baby. For a variety
of reasons, some babies can run into trouble and need to
be delivered as quickly as possible. When the delivery
is delayed these babies can be seriously injured or die.
There are often signs that a baby is in distress, such
as heart rate abnormalities, the presence of meconium
(the baby's first stools), or excessive bleeding. When
these warning signs are present, it is often imperative
to act quickly to deliver the baby.
Delay in
Recognition of Non-reassuring Fetal Monitor Patterns
For more than
30 years, monitoring of the baby's heart rate has been a
critical component of safely managing a baby's delivery.
This heart monitoring can provide an early warning sign
that the baby is not doing well and should be delivered
immediately, either through an expedited vaginal
delivery or a c-section. Cases where these early warning
signs are missed are the second most common type of
successful lawsuits involving birth injury. In these
cases, the paper print- out of the fetal heart monitor
is the key piece of evidence needed to establish that an
error was made.
Failure to
Assess
Doctors
failing to communicate, examine and/or request
appropriate tests or investigations is the third most
frequent type of case involving birth injuries. These
type of cases generally arise when a doctor overlooks
important signs of problems with the birth and/or fails
to investigate these signs.
Damage
Caused by Inappropriate Use of Forceps
A few cases of
birth injury are the result of using forceps incorrectly
or inappropriately. Forceps are medical instruments
designed to help in the delivery of a baby by applying
traction to its head. The use of forceps can cause
injury to baby, particularly if the baby is high up in
the birth canal or the head is not properly engaged. The
injuries are most often caused by a misapplication of
the forceps or the use of excessive force.
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