Women in active labor have contractions in rapid succession. Typically, they head to the hospital after their contractions reach a certain frequency or their water breaks, indicating that active labor has begun.
Women give birth in hospitals largely to receive medical oversight and support. Labor and delivery can be very dangerous, and having emergency support on hand can save the life of a woman or her child.
Most women can give birth safely without interventions. Other times, medical professionals help speed up labor or facilitate a safe birth.
In some cases, the efforts of health care professionals can actually do harm to patients instead of protecting them. Birth injuries are sometimes the result of medical interventions gone wrong. How do attempts to assist with labor lead to injuries for the mother or child?
What kind of errors can cause physical injuries?
There are numerous interventions that doctors can use when labor has progressed too slowly. They could administer drugs that speed up labor. The mother could have an adverse reaction to those drugs.
Other times, they might use physical tools to assist with the actual delivery process. Both forceps and vacuum assistance devices have a strong association with infant trauma. Injuries to the eyes and face are common.
Shoulder injuries can also occur and may require months of care before the infant fully recovers. In cases where another physician could have avoided causing injury to the child or the mother, there may be grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Establishing that a doctor’s error caused a birth injury is important. Families can hold doctors and hospitals accountable for the financial implications of preventable birth injuries in some cases. Getting experienced legal guidance can help.
