Brachial Plexus Injuries And Medical Malpractice

The brachial plexus is a grouping of nerves that deliver sensory information to and from a person’s shoulders and arms.  Excessive pressure placed on these nerves can cause them to stretch and or tear.  The result can range from slight injury such as temporary tingling all the way to permanent paralysis.

The experienced Kingston medical malpractice attorney knows that brachial plexus injuries can be caused by medical malpractice.  The most common reasons that a child suffers from a brachial plexus injury are related to the negligent use of forceps and or vacuums, shoulder dystocia, and breech child birth.

Most people know what breech delivery is.  It occurs when a child is delivered feet first instead of head first.  The mother’s physicians should monitor her for this condition prior to the baby’s delivery.  Breech deliveries are complicated to say the least and the baby can easily become injured.  Breech deliveries can injure the shoulders, neck, and or head; the injury can be to the brachial plexus region.

If a doctor failed to detect the baby’s breech position or if the doctor knew about the breech position and did not recommend a C-section, medical malpractice may be at hand.

Let us talk next about vacuums and forceps.  The names of these tools are scary and their use can hurt babies if they are used improperly.

If a child is not moving down the birth canal properly, doctors may choose to attach a vacuum to its head so that the child can be delivered.  But if the mother is not fully dilated or if the baby is too far pre-term, unnecessary harm can come to the child.  Even if full term and fully dilated the vacuum can be used negligently.

Instead of a vacuum, the doctors can choose to use forceps in order to aid child delivery.  Again, if used negligently, the child can be injured.  Vacuum and forceps injuries are entirely preventable.

Sometimes during child birth, doctors and or nurses will try to aid the delivery by exerting too much pressure on the mother and child; such as pushing on the mother’s stomach.  This should be avoided because this could cause shoulder dystocia, a condition in which the child’s shoulder gets stuck against the pelvic bone of the mother.  A narrow pelvis and or a child with very wide shoulders can also lead to shoulder dystocia.  But doctors are trained to detect these problems and they should detect these problems.

In short, brachial plexus can be more than an unfortunate condition; it can be the result of medical malpractice.

But what do you think?  I would love to hear from you!  Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com.  You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.