PENNSYLVANIA BIRTH INJURY ATTORNEY

At O’Malley & Perry Law, each Scranton Pennsylvania birth injury attorney and expert medical consultant on our team pride themselves on helping families uncover whether medical errors were responsible for their child’s devastating birth injuries. Improper prenatal care and negligent medical professionals can cause errors during the delivery process leading to birth defects such as Cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, and many additional forms of birth defect.

Furthermore, if a doctor or nurse or other treatment provider fails to recognize fetal distress or responds too slowly, your child could suffer lifelong and irreversible disabilities. Our Scranton – Wilkes – Barre birth injury lawyers and medical consultants have experience in handling and understanding these extremely complex medical issues.

WHAT IS BIRTH-RELATED MEDICAL MALPRACTICE?

Birth related injuries and/or issue are not always the result of malpractice. There are instances where a child’s condition is the result of genetics, such as a chromosomal disorder; however, far too often these life-altering conditions are the result from medical errors during the birthing process. For example, significant injuries can occur when the doctor or nurse fails to read (or inaccurately reads) the fetal monitor strips. If the strips indicate fetal distress, then the doctor must act immediately, otherwise, the fetus could be deprived of its vital oxygen supply. As a result of this delay, the baby can sustain brain damage that could have been avoided. 

DELIVERY ERRORS THAT MAY CAUSE BIRTH INJURIES

• Failure to monitor fetal strips
• Misread fetal strips
• Improper use of forceps or vacuum
• Failure to perform a cesarean section

WHY CHOOSE O’MALLEY & PERRY FOR BIRTH INJURY CASES?

• Free Consultations Available – Call us any time(570) – 348 – 3711; 
• Attorney Michael P. Perry has won millions for clients; 
• No matter the details the Attorneys at O’Malley & Perry gives victims and their families undivided attention. 

WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON BIRTH INJURIES?

The most common injuries resulting from an error during the delivery process are Cerebral palsy, Erb’s Palsy, and Brachial Plexus Palsy. While physical therapy or speech therapy can help improve a child’s development, the impact of Cerebral palsy and other birth injuries are typically permanent. If your child sustained an injury during birth and you suspect medical negligence, speak with a qualified birth injury attorney and our staff at O’Malley & Perry Law as soon as possible. Schedule a free consultation with O’Malley & Perry Law, so that our attorneys and expert medical consultants can give you options and will not charge a fee unless we win.

HOW DOES A BIRTH INJURY OCCUR?

The brain is the primary center for regulating and coordinating all body activities. Essential to the regulation and coordination of these body activities is the transmission to the brain of oxygen obtained through air inhaled and exhaled during the act of respiration. Traumatic birth injury is a broad description which is used to describe both avoidable and unavoidable mechanical and anoxic trauma to the brain of an infant during labor and delivery.

• Anoxic trauma: involves a situation in which there is diminished oxygen in the arterial blood supply despite the infant’s otherwise-normal ability to carry oxygen. The diminished oxygen in the blood supply may be due to a reduced oxygen supply, respiratory obstruction, or inadequate respiratory movements. This can result in serious conditions, including Cerebral palsy.
• Mechanical trauma: involves some physical act to the body, usually the skull of the infant, which prevents the needed transmission of oxygen to the brain of the infant.

HOW TO PROVE NEGLIGENCE IN BIRTH INJURY CASES?

By reviewing the prenatal and delivery records, we can often establish the doctors were negligent in preventing cerebral palsy and brain damage. We typically review lab results and fetal monitoring strips with the assistance of our expert medical consultants. If a child suffers a period of oxygen deprivation, this can result in fetal distress which, if a doctor doesn’t act quickly, may lead to permanent damage or death.

Trained staff must be available to activate the fetal heart monitor, inspect and analyze the strip continuously and intervene where fetal distress is observed. Cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), bradycardia (slow heartbeat), and tachycardia (rapid heartbeat) are all signs of fetal distress.

Meconium, or the fetal feces, can also cause fetal distress. A Pennsylvania birth injury attorney must determine if there is resulting fetal hypoxia which is insufficient oxygen to the tissues. A doctor must always determine if there is an abnormal blood pH. There is a decrease in the blood pH, or acidosis when there is a buildup of acid level in the blood due to the fetus not receiving enough oxygen. There is a long history of linking oxygen deprivation and the pH reading to babies born with brain damage. Too low a pH level will establish fetal distress and in many cases, an immediate C-section should follow.

WHAT IS CEREBRAL PALSY?

Cerebral palsy, or CP, is a medical term used to describe a group of disorders affecting body movement and muscle coordination. Cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the brain during pregnancy, delivery or childhood. This damage interferes with messages from the brain to the body, and from the body to the brain with effects ranging from slight awkwardness of movement or hand control to virtually no muscle control greatly affecting movement and speech. The location of the brain injury influences the effects of the disorder, which can include:

• Mental retardation
• Seizures
• Impairment of speech, hearing or sight
• Abnormal perception and sensation
• Problems in gait and mobility
• Involuntary movement
• Muscle spasm or tightness

HOW DOES CEREBRAL PALSY OCCUR?

Any damage to the developing brain, whether caused by genetic or developmental disorders, injury or disease, may produce Cerebral palsy. Often, medical malpractice plays an unfortunate role in the injury of a fetus during pregnancy or of an infant during delivery. The failed diagnosis of complications during pregnancy resulting in the harm to a baby is one example of medical malpractice. Another common example of malpractice that our Pennsylvania birth injury lawyers have seen is a labor which is allowed to last too long that often results in brain damage, as poor oxygen supply destroys brain tissue. Additional examples of malpractice are how the side effects of anesthetics and analgesics can negatively impact an infant causing brain injuries.

TYPES OF CEREBRAL PALSY

There are four types of Cerebral palsy:

• Spastic cerebral palsy
• Athetoid or dyskinetic cerebral palsy
• Ataxic cerebral palsy
• Mixed cerebral palsy – which combines the three types of cerebral palsy above

WHAT IS BRACHIAL PLEXUS PALSY?

The brachial plexus is a group of nerves that run from the shoulder to the spine. These control muscle movement in the hands, arms, and shoulder. Sometimes, when a doctor is negligent by not providing proper obstetrical care, damage to the nerves can result. These injuries usually occur during the natural delivery of a larger infant. When the baby is too large to pass through the mother’s pelvis, his or her shoulder may become lodged behind the mother’s pubic bone after the head has been delivered. Many times the doctors attempt to continue with a natural delivery, as opposed to a C-section and can stretch the neck excessively causing nerve damage.

THREE TYPES OF BRACHIAL PLEXUS INJURIES:

1. Stretch – which varies in degrees of intensity; however, nerves in plexus are often compressed due to swelling or bruising from birth trauma of the shoulder getting caught on the pelvic bone. Stretch injuries will spontaneously recover in 1-2 years of age with 90-100% return of function. Neuroma, which is scar tissue that compresses the nerves, may occur also and surgical intervention is needed to remove it.
2. Rupture – nerves are torn at either one or several places in the plexus requiring surgery for the nerves to recover.
3. Avulsion (the most severe injury) – nerves are pulled from the spinal cord as evidenced by a totally flaccid extremity, which requires surgery and possibly muscle transfer to gain function. Horner’s syndrome may be present if this is involved.

Call O’Malley & Perry Law for your free consultation today.