Sustaining a Brain Injury at Birth

Brain injuries are very rare at the time of the birth, they mainly develop due to medical malpractice in a majority of cases. They are often very serious and life threatening and influence the normal development and growth process.

Causes for brain injury at birth

· Excess pressure on umbilical cord leading to its compression at the time of delivery.

· Infections of mother at the time of pregnancy or delivery.

· Rupture of uterus before birth.

· High blood pressure of mother at the time of pregnancy.

· Baby situated with feet first in breech position.

· Delay in performing a c-section at times of emergency.

· Huge babies who fail to fit in the birth canal.

Types of brain injury at birth

Some of the common brain injuries observed in new born babies include

· Caput Succedaneum: This is swelling of the scalp of the baby due to exertion of pressure on baby's head during prolonged delivery or vacuum extraction process. This condition generally gets cured in few days after birth.

· Cephalohematoma: This type of injury develops due to vacuum extraction process. Blood gets collected between the cranial bone and skin. This condition gets cured in a period of few weeks to three months.

· Erb's Palsy: This is a nerve injury that develops due to extensive stretching of baby's neck or shoulder at the time of delivery. Erb's palsy causes damage to a group of nerves situated at the neck resulting in numbness, weakness, and lack of motion in arms of the baby. Babies generally recover from this condition and show movement in arms within three to six months. In certain cases physical therapy or surgery may be required.

· Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy: This condition develops due to lack of adequate supply of oxygen to the baby's brain. This results in damage to the brain due to death of brain cells, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and rarely death.

· Fractures: Fracture of the collar bone generally occurs in new born babies during delivery.

· Sub-conjunctival hemorrhage: This refers to rupture of small blood vessels in baby's eye. A small red patch is observed on the white portion of the eye. The red spot gets resolved within one to two weeks.

Medical Malpractice in brain injury at birth

Brain injuries at birth can be avoided by taking appropriate medical measures at right time without any delay in diagnosis. Brain injury at birth due to medical malpractice makes the victim eligible to make a claim for coverage of medical expenses and expenses essential for taking care of the baby.

Parents have the right to take legal action if the baby develops cerebral palsy, seizures, deafness, blindness, mental retardation, and learning disabilities. It would be prudent to get your case evaluated by competent medical malpractice lawyers at Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff, & Wolff. Once we evaluate your case we will work towards getting you the compensation you deserve if the brain trauma happened due to medical negligence.

We are located in Astoria, Queens, New York City, and have two offices in Brooklyn. Call us at 212-344-1000 to schedule a free consultation. We work on a contingency fee basis so you don't have to worry about making any payment upfront. You are not paid until we are paid.

Give us a call. You have nothing to lose. We have won many cases for past clients and stacked up millions of dollars for those clients, you can be on this winning list too. We hope you are having a fine day; at least as much as you possibly can if you are hurt.