Brain injuries in newborn babies can cause various issues in both the short term and the long term. For the parents of these fragile babies, the nightmare doesn’t seem to end. In some cases, finding out the cause of the injury might help the parents to determine if they are going to launch a medical malpractice or birth injury claim.
In the United States, around three out of every 1,000 babies who are born full-term have a brain injury. Not all of these are attributed to lack of oxygen during the birth process. In fact, around half have other causes besides oxygen deprivation. Some of the cases of oxygen deprivation might have even been due to factors that occurred before the birth.
In children with cerebral palsy, which is commonly attributed to oxygen deprivation, fewer than 10 percent showed signs that they suffered from asphyxia at birth. This means that there is a chance that previous factors played a part in the birth injury.
Some of the factors that might come into the picture include placenta abnormalities, infections, bleeding during the pregnancy or a stroke. There are many ways that doctors can determine what happened to cause a baby to have brain damage. These include checking the acid level in the umbilical artery, reviewing the APGAR scores, taking an MRI, or determining if organ failure is present. All of these might clue the doctor into the time when the injury occurred and what caused it.
Once you find out what caused the problem with your newborn, you can determine what course of action to take. You might opt to seek compensation for the damages you have to deal with because of the issue.
Source: Herald Tribune Health, “Brain injury in newborns could have many causes,” Jane Brody, accessed Oct. 13, 2017