Month: April 2018

The brachial plexus is a number of nerves running from the spine and proceeding through the neck and armpit region into the arm. The brachial plexus supplies the arm with nerve impulses. If a baby’s head and neck are twisted during natural childbirth, these nerves may be stretched or damaged, resulting in lasting injury, such as partial or complete paralysis of the arm on the affected side of the body. This condition is referred to as Erb’s palsy.

Brachial plexus injury may occur due to medical malpractice on the part of a medical professional involved in the childbirth process. California birth injury lawyer Dr. Bruce G. Fagel is experienced in handling birth injury cases and claims involving brachial plexus injury and can help you seek and recover the monetary compensation that you deserve following this serious injury.

An obstetrician may improperly monitor a pregnancy and, therefore, may misdiagnose a due date or the size of the baby, resulting in a baby being too large to fit through the birth canal. If this is not recognized immediately, the trauma associated with passing through the birth canal can cause brachial plexus injury. There are several measures that a doctor may take in order to prevent this injury, including rotating the baby or performing a cesarean section. Excessive force or the failure to recognize a large baby or breech birth can cause a lifetime of problems for a child.

Erb’s Palsy Attorney in California
If your child has sustained brachial plexus injury or has been diagnosed with Erb’s palsy, medical malpractice could be to blame. Contact California birth injury lawyer Dr. Bruce Fagel as soon as possible to find out more information regarding this serious injury and what you can do to hold the responsible party liable for their actions through a medical malpractice lawsuit. Brachial plexus injury may result in facial paralysis, paralysis of one arm, loss of muscle control in the arm or hand and a number of other serious issues.

During gestation, an unborn child’s brain is vulnerable to a wide range of threats, including placental or umbilical problems, severe illness with the mother, or a difficult delivery. When a newborn is asphyxiated before or during birth, the ensuing lack of oxygen to the brain can result in a condition termed hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or HIE.

The HIE condition evolves over several hours. The initial oxygen and/or lack of blood supply to the brain kicks off a series of other events as the body tries to repair itself. This natural approach is effective when HIE is mild. But in moderate or severe cases, the body’s desperate attempts to repair itself could cause more brain damage.

This damage does not occur immediately. It is the result of a cascade of chemical reactions, and there is a window of several hours before it becomes permanent. Therefore, researchers theorized that maybe it was possible to block the chemical chain reaction and minimize permanent damage. Up until the past couple of decades no intervention seemed to make much difference.

However, now a new and simple technique is giving brain-damaged babies a chance at a normal, healthy life. Recent research suggests that babies who are starved of oxygen at birth have a much lower risk of brain damage if they are given mild hypothermia, a cooling of the body temperature. This is achieved in one of two ways: through a special water-cooled cap or a fluid-filled blanket. Both methods are designed to reduce brain temperature. It has been found that reducing the temperature by 3-4○C for 72 hours after birth seems to switch off many of the damaging reactions. It is believed that cooling slows down chemical reactions, and gives the repair mechanisms inside cells a chance to work.

Brain hypothermia, induced by cooling a baby to around 33○C for three days after birth, has recently been proven to be the only medical intervention that reduces brain damage and improves an infant’s chance of normal survival after birth asphyxia. Brain cooling has become widely used in neonatal units throughout the United States.

Timing is critical. Brain cooling must be initiated within six hours of delivery. After the baby is born, doctors make some quick decisions to determine if he or she is a candidate for brain cooling. The newborn must have sustained moderate brain damage, be full-term or late pre-term (beyond 36 weeks), and be younger than six hours old. International studies report about a 27% decline in deaths and disabilities with brain cooling.

If your child has a brain injury or cerebral palsy, he or she possibly could have been offered brain cooling as a treatment.