Birth and Obstetrical Injuries
Quick, yet informative decisions must be made during the delivery of a newborn, and a birth injury lawyer can help review your situation. Qualified obstetricians and other medical staff must be attentive and ready to respond to ever-changing conditions.
When a trusted physician fails to protect your health and the health of your baby, New York medical malpractice attorneys Josh Gillette and Janet Izzo pursue compensation for a child suffering serious, often permanent injuries.
Injuries to the newborn or fetus can be the result of pre-eclampsia, the use of forceps or vacuums to assist in delivery, breech presentation, fetal distress or abnormalities with the umbilical cord.
Birth Injury Lawyer Insights
The Neurologically Impaired Infant’s Fund (NIIF) was enacted to protect New York-based hospitals from financial damages when a fetus or newborn suffers injury. More importantly, the fund provides lifetime medical care for newborns with cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, dystocia, or any other neurological injury.
Children who can no longer meet important milestones in walking, talking, bathing, and toilet training have the funds necessary for speech, physical, and occupational therapy throughout their lives.
The process of filing a birth injury claim, however, remains the same. The lawsuit is filed and continues until a trial or settlement can be reached. Payment through the NIIF comes when we reach an agreement.
Our team has presented Continuing Legal Education courses for other attorneys across the state on the Neurologically Impaired Infant Fund and the handling of these types of cases.
Common Types of Birth Injuries in Syracuse We Handle
Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes develops during pregnancy when the body cannot produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. This condition typically emerges between the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy and requires careful monitoring and management by healthcare providers.
When doctors fail to diagnose or properly manage gestational diabetes, serious complications can arise. Uncontrolled blood sugar levels can cause the baby to grow excessively large. This significantly increases the risk of shoulder dystocia during delivery. And this occurs when the baby's shoulders become stuck in the birth canal. This potentially leads to brachial plexus injuries, fractured bones, and oxygen deprivation.
Medical malpractice involving gestational diabetes may include:
failure to perform standard glucose screening tests,
inadequate monitoring of blood sugar levels,
failure to recommend appropriate dietary changes or insulin therapy,
or failure to consider cesarean delivery when the baby shows signs of macrosomia.
Healthcare providers must recognize risk factors such as maternal obesity, family history of diabetes, and previous delivery of a large baby, and take appropriate preventive measures.
Preeclampsia
Preeclampsia is a serious pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure and signs of organ damage. This condition usually develops after the 20th week of pregnancy and requires immediate medical attention. The goal is to prevent life-threatening consequences for both mother and baby.
Early symptoms include:
persistent severe headaches,
vision changes,
upper abdominal pain,
sudden swelling of the face and hands,
shortness of breath,
and protein in the urine.
Without proper diagnosis and treatment, preeclampsia can progress to eclampsia, which involves seizures and can be fatal.
Medical negligence in preeclampsia cases often involves failure to monitor blood pressure at routine prenatal visits or dismissing patient complaints of symptoms.
Maternal Infections
Infections during pregnancy pose significant risks to the developing fetus and can lead to severe birth injuries if not properly diagnosed and treated.
Group B Streptococcus is a bacterial infection found in approximately 25% of pregnant women. While typically harmless to the mother, GBS can be transmitted to the baby during delivery, causing pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis.
Chorioamnionitis is an infection of the amniotic fluid and membranes surrounding the baby. This serious infection can trigger preterm labor, cause fetal oxygen deprivation, and lead to brain injury.
When infections cause an inflammatory response in the mother's body, cytokines are released that can inhibit fetal brain and stem cell development. Additionally, maternal fever can directly harm the developing fetus. Healthcare providers have a duty to perform routine screening, promptly investigate reported symptoms, and provide timely treatment.
Preterm Labor
Preterm labor occurs when regular contractions begin to open the cervix before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Babies born prematurely face serious health risks that increase with earlier delivery, including:
respiratory distress syndrome,
chronic lung disease,
cerebral palsy,
developmental delays,
vision and hearing problems,
and feeding difficulties.
While not all preterm labor is preventable, medical negligence can contribute to premature birth. This includes failure to diagnose and treat infections like:
chorioamnionitis or urinary tract infections,
inadequate management of high-risk conditions such as preeclampsia or gestational diabetes,
failure to recognize signs of cervical insufficiency,
delayed response to placental abruption,
improper prescribing of medications that trigger early labor,
and failure to administer corticosteroids to mature the baby's lungs when preterm birth is imminent.
Healthcare providers must identify risk factors for preterm labor, including previous premature delivery, carrying multiples, uterine abnormalities, and certain infections. When warning signs appear, immediate intervention with bed rest, medications to stop contractions, or hospitalization may prevent premature birth and its associated complications.
Brachial Plexus Injuries
During difficult deliveries, excessive pulling, twisting, or lateral traction on the baby's head and neck can stretch or tear these delicate nerves.
Erb's palsy, the most common form of brachial plexus injury, involves the upper brachial plexus and results in weakness or paralysis of the shoulder and elbow. More severe injuries affecting all nerve roots can cause total arm paralysis.
Medical malpractice in these cases often involves failure to recognize risk factors for shoulder dystocia. The failure to recommend cesarean delivery when appropriate, improper response to shoulder dystocia using excessive traction, and negligent use of delivery instruments. Proper management requires trained personnel to perform specific maneuvers that can safely resolve shoulder dystocia without causing nerve damage.
Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy is a group of permanent movement disorders caused by damage to the developing brain, most commonly occurring before, during, or shortly after birth. This condition affects muscle tone, movement, posture, and motor skills, with effects ranging from mild to severe. Many cases result from oxygen deprivation during labor and delivery.
The condition manifests in several forms:
spastic cerebral palsy (stiff, tight muscles),
athetoid or dyskinetic cerebral palsy (involuntary movements),
ataxic cerebral palsy (balance and coordination problems),
and mixed cerebral palsy (combination of symptoms).
Children with cerebral palsy may struggle with walking, talking, eating, and performing daily activities, requiring extensive physical, occupational, and speech therapy throughout their lives.
Medical negligence leading to cerebral palsy includes failure to monitor fetal heart rate patterns indicating distress, delayed cesarean section when oxygen deprivation is evident, mismanagement of umbilical cord complications such as prolapse or nuchal cord, improper use of forceps or vacuum extractors causing head trauma, failure to treat maternal infections or preeclampsia, and inadequate resuscitation of the newborn.
Fractured Bones
Bone fractures during delivery, while sometimes unavoidable in difficult births, often result from excessive force or improper delivery techniques. The clavicle (collarbone) is the most commonly fractured bone, occurring in approximately 4-5 per 1,000 births. Other fractures can affect the skull, humerus (upper arm), and femur (thigh bone).
Signs of a fractured clavicle in a newborn include decreased movement of one arm, crying when the baby is picked up under the arms, asymmetry in shoulder position, and a palpable lump at the fracture site as it begins to heal. More serious skull fractures can result from forceps misuse or excessive pressure during delivery and may cause bleeding in the brain.
A birth injury lawyer can review medical negligence involving bone fractures, including excessive force during delivery, improper use of forceps or vacuum extractors, failure to perform a cesarean section when vaginal delivery poses a high risk, and failure to diagnose and treat fractures promptly after birth.
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal cord injuries during birth are rare but catastrophic, occurring in approximately 6 per 1,000 deliveries involving birth trauma. A birth injury lawyer can help review your situation. These injuries result from excessive mechanical force on the baby's spine during delivery, causing bruising, partial tears, or complete severing (transection) of the spinal cord. The cervical (neck) and upper thoracic (mid-back) regions are most commonly affected.
Neonatal spinal cord injury disrupts nerve connections between the brain and body, resulting in devastating long-term consequences. Complete spinal cord injuries cause total loss of movement and sensation below the injury site, potentially including quadriplegia if the neck is affected. Incomplete injuries allow some signal transmission and offer better recovery potential, though many children still face permanent disabilities.
Risk factors and causes include:
breech presentation,
use of forceps or vacuum extractors,
excessive traction or rotation of the baby's neck,
shoulder dystocia,
version procedures attempting to rotate the baby,
macrosomia,
prolonged or excessively rapid labor,
and maternal diabetes.
These injuries often occur concurrently with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
From a birth injury lawyer, a review of symptoms of spinal cord injury in newborns includes decreased or absent movement, weak or absent reflexes, breathing difficulties or apnea, lack of response to painful stimulation, and unusual limb positioning.
Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)
Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) and restricted blood flow (ischemia) to the brain during the perinatal period. HIE affects one to two babies per 1,000 births and is a leading cause of death and long-term neurological disability in newborns. A birth injury lawyer can help you review your specific case.
When the brain is deprived of oxygen, brain cells begin to die and release toxic substances that trigger a cascade of further cell death. This evolving process continues for hours or days after the initial oxygen-depriving event. The severity and extent of brain damage depend on how long oxygen was cut off and which brain regions were affected.
HIE can occur before birth due to placental abruption, uterine rupture, maternal blood pressure problems, or infections. During labor and delivery, causes include umbilical cord complications such as prolapse or compression, prolonged labor, shoulder dystocia, failure to perform timely cesarean section, and mismanagement of breech presentation. After birth, severe respiratory problems, cardiovascular issues, and infections can cause HIE.
Medical negligence in HIE cases includes failure to adequately monitor fetal heart rate patterns indicating distress, delayed response to signs of oxygen deprivation, failure to perform emergency cesarean section when indicated, inadequate newborn resuscitation, and failure to initiate therapeutic hypothermia promptly. Healthcare providers must recognize risk factors, including maternal diabetes, preeclampsia, fetal anemia, and abnormal fetal positioning, and respond immediately to any signs of fetal compromise.
Potential Injury From A Delayed C-Section
A cesarean section is the delivery of a baby through an incision made through a mother’s abdomen and uterus in order to deliver an unborn child. The procedure is usually performed when a vaginal birth would put the life of either the child or the mother at risk. Delaying that surgery can have dire consequences.
That doctor and his or her delivery team failed to notice signs of trouble during the labor or birth, failing to take immediate action to prevent injuries to the newborn. Waiting to perform a C-section can result in loss of oxygen and catastrophic brain damage.
When a C-section isn’t performed, serious physical damage can result when a baby is pulled from the birth canal. The nerves in the neck and collarbone are stretched, ripped, and torn, resulting in the diagnosis of Erb’s palsy. These types of shoulder injuries can impact fine motor skills and in severe cases, the ability to use the affected arm. Simple tasks such as reaching or tying shoes that many take for granted become a challenge.
There are also cases for injuries to the mother during a C-section, and physical injuries to the baby, including large lacerations and scars.
Your Syracuse Birth Injury Lawyer
An experienced birth injury lawyer in Syracuse will speak with you personally at a free initial consultation. You can call Gillette & Izzo Law Office at 315-421-1000 to schedule an appointment or fill out our online intake form.
We represent victims of birth injuries on a contingency basis, requiring no payment up front, where you only pay us if we successfully recover on your behalf.