Personal injuries come in many forms, and have many different causes. The process of childbirth happens many times each day, all over the world, as families welcome babies into their lives. Much of the time, births are fairly uneventful, with no long-term negative implications for either the mother or the child. Unfortunately, things can go wrong during childbirth, and either the mother or the baby or both can be temporarily or permanently injured.
Birth injuries may be visible right away, or they may not become apparent until weeks or months after a baby is born. From the moment of birth and onward, babies are growing, developing, and changing. If a baby was deprived of oxygen for a length of time during the birthing process, he or she may have sustained brain damage which could reveal itself to parents as the baby experiences delays in reaching developmental milestones, such as rolling over and crawling. If you notice any sort of delays, your pediatrician can assess your child and determine whether the delays are the likely result of a birth injury, or the result of being a healthy child who has a slightly different developmental timetable than other children his or her age.
In addition to developmental delays, seizures can alert parents to the possibility of a birth injury. Not all seizures in infants and young children are caused by birth injuries, but some are. As with developmental delays, your pediatrician can help you to understand the cause of your child’s seizures in addition to treating them. In order for your pediatrician to have all of the information that they need to determine whether your child’s developmental delays or seizures are the result of a birth injury, provide the pediatrician with information about your birth. This includes information such as whether there were any birth injury risk factors like forceps, vacuum extraction, a cesarean birth, or an unusual appearance of your child immediately after birth.
Birth injuries can be temporary or they can be permanent. One example of a birth injury that is sometimes temporary is the brachial plexus injury, an injury to the group of nerves which begins in the neck and extends throughout the upper body. Brachial plexus injuries often result when there is difficulty in getting the baby’s shoulder through the birth canal and excessive force is used to deliver the baby. Some brachial plexus injuries are permanent, while others may be completely or fully healed by surgical means such as nerve transfers, nerve grafts, and nerve repair. Cerebral palsy, a movement control disorder, is an example of a permanent birth injury. Injuries to the brain of a child in utero, before birth, or after birth can cause cerebral palsy, as can mistakes during labor and delivery, bacterial infections, head trauma, and oxygen deprivation.
Whether your child’s birth injury is temporary or permanent, they are likely to require specialized short term or long term medical care. It is important that the medical professionals whose negligent actions result in birth injuries are held responsible for their actions. Your Kansas Personal Injury Attorney will help you to build a strong case in your favor. To learn more about how a Kansas Personal Injury Attorney can help you to obtain the settlement that your injured child deserves, please call our Wichita office today at (316) 264-1548.