Most people tend to think of adults when discussing nervous system injuries. Typically, adults are more apt to have a stroke or be injured in a way that would affect the spinal cord or brain, such as a car accident.
There are two types of nervous system injuries. Spinal cord injuries (or SCI) comprise one type, while traumatic brain injuries (or TBI) are the other. In either case, the prognosis is grave. The body has a limited ability to repair injuries to the central nervous system. The injury tends to be permanent and is usually debilitating.
Spinal cord injuries in children can be caused by car accidents, falls, or during sports, such as contact sports, diving, or on the trampoline. Yet they can also occur to an infant during birth. If a physician is not careful while assisting the baby through the birth canal, particularly during difficult labors, the baby may suffer from a SCI around the neck area. SCIs are extremely serious due to the possibility of complete and permanent paralysis.
Brain injury can also occur due to medical malpractice. A newborn baby’s body is delicate, especially its skull and brain. An infant’s brain can be damaged from lack of oxygen, trauma, or bleeding within the brain – all of which can occur during birth if doctors and nurses make a single mistake.
If a doctor or nurse does not properly monitor the fetus’s heart rate and other vital signs, he may not be able to properly ascertain if the infant is in danger. If there is a prolapsed umbilical cord or if the cord gets wrapped around the baby’s neck, she will not get the oxygen she needs and could suffer brain damage. If too much force is used during assisted births, or if the forceps or vacuum device is not used properly, the baby can be injured.
Cerebral palsy or Erb’s palsy might be the result of medical error if the birth was a difficult one. If there was a low amount of amniotic fluid, if the baby was too large for its gestational age, or if it was a premature birth, then medical malpractice may have been the cause of the baby’s injury. The doctor may also be responsible if the baby was born breech, the umbilical cord was twisted, or a c-section was not performed and there was fetal distress.
If this sounds similar to your child’s birth, then you need to contact a medical malpractice attorney to discuss your situation.
References:
http://www.dana.org/news/publications/detail.aspx?id=4220
http://www.spinal-injury.net/tetraplegia.htm
http://www.brainandspinalcord.org/spinal-cord-injuries/index.html
http://www.brainandspinalcord.org/content/brain_injury
http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site1150/mainpageS1150P0.html
http://www.bodnerlaw.com/birth-injury.php
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Information About Childhood Nervous System injuries
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