Thursday 5 June 2008

Fractures of the Clavicle

Fractures of the clavicle is something else that can occur in your newborn baby and you can easily claim for compensation. However the good news with any type of birth injury is that your lawyer in Illinois may well be able to negotiate and out of court settlement which is a much easier option.

Shoulder dystocia can happen is the baby becomes stuck behind the pelvic bone of the mother when the baby is travelling along the birth canal. If this problem is not spotted there can be a lot of injury to the baby. If the obstetrician attempts to pull the baby's head in order to help with the birth process, the problems can be devasting for the baby and the family.

If a baby has too much lateral traction upon its head when its sholder is stuck this can cause the nerves in the baby's body to become stretched and torn which can cause real problems. When this happens the condition is called either Erbs palsy, Brachial Plexus palsy or Klumpke's palsy. The health implications of this can be very long-lasting and the arm will become greatly disabled. It means that often the child cannot use their arm or hand at all.

Although such situations are unfortunate, there is a lot that a doctor can use in order to prevent it from happening in the first place. There are a number of " maneuvers" that are used specifically when the baby becomes stuck and these maneuvers are called woods, rubin and McRobert and they should be tried before doing anything else. If these maneuvers don't work then other techniques can be used. Applying suprapubic pressure involves placing some pressure on the mother's stomach just below where the baby is sitting. An episiotomy can also be used and this involved making a cut and this prevets the skin tearing when the baby passes through the birth canal.

There are even a couple of other techniques which should be used as a last resort and one of them is to actually fracture the baby's clavicle bone. This can been seen as very drastic but in an emergency situation it might be the only hope. But fracturing the bone, the baby's shoulders should be narrower and therefore because to pass through the mother's pelvis. Another last ditch attempt can involce using the Zavanelli maneuver where the baby is pushed back up into the vagina which will then allow the surgeons to carry out a emergency cesarean section. Although this is not something that happens often, it is a technique that can be used when seen as the only option.

Medical staff have a really tough job and most of the time they will do everything in their power to make sure that your baby is delvered healthy. However in some circumstances such birth injuries can be avoided and only happen because of medical malpractice. There are many birth injury lawyers in Illinois who will be able to look at your case and help you win compensation if you and your baby are the victim of medical malpractice.

2 comments:

Duffy said...

Cerebral palsy, erb’s palsy, or brain damage and Shoulder dystocia all these three are the causes of medical malpractice, these diseases have consequences. If you have suffered from malpractice you should take suggestion from some birth injury attorney

Unknown said...

People can get many types of injuries in which they can get many legal problems and that can be solved by lawyer.

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