Our birth injury medical malpractice lawyers will handle your claim and guide you through the process. Many medical malpractice lawsuits stem from claims for birth injuries involving shoulder dystocia. Experienced birth injury attorneys Thomas & Wan are committed to defending the victims of medical hardships. Thomas & Wan has represented individuals who are being faced with the emotional and financial hardships that are associated with birth trauma. As advocates for children and parents, Thomas & Wan will examine every factor involved in the birthing process and fight to assure that clients receive all of the compensation they are entitled to.

Shoulder Dystocia

Shoulder dystocia is an emergency during delivery that is caused when the baby’s head has been delivered but its shoulders are stuck and cannot be delivered naturally. Shoulder dystocia occurs in as many as 30,000 deliveries each year in the U.S. and stems from complications during childbirth where the child’s head is able to clear but the shoulders require additional medical maneuvers to be properly delivered. In a shoulder dystocia case, typically one shoulder of the baby becomes trapped behind the mother’s pelvis during delivery.

Shoulder Dystocia Causes

Erb’s Palsy

Erb’s palsy is a condition that affects the group of nerves that control the muscles in the arms and hands and can include symptoms of limpness, paralysis, lack of muscle control, and decreased sensation in the affected areas. As a result, a person can develop certain injuries that can include stretching of the nerves, scar tissue around the nerves, as well as ruptured or torn nerves. The most common cause of erb’s palsy is dystocia, an abnormal or difficult childbirth or labor. For example, it can occur if the infant’s head and neck are pulled toward the side at the same time as the shoulders pass through the birth canal. The condition can also be caused by excessive pulling on the shoulders during a headfirst delivery or by pressure on the raised arms during a breech birth. Many factors affect how severe the injury is. The first is the number of nerves that have been affected. Of the five nerves of the brachial plexus the first two are most often involved. A classic sign of this is an elbow which does not bend and the hand being held in backwards position.

The nervous damage is often the most problematic of the side effects to Erb’s Palsy, but it is also the most varying. There have been cases of patients who have lost complete sensory perception within the arm after procedures whereas they had full sensory perception before. The most common area for a loss of sensory perception (except where the arm faces a total loss) is that between the shoulder and the elbow since the nerves which provide information from that area to the brain are also those first damaged in the initial trauma.

Symptoms

Treatment

Approximately two infants out of every 10,000 births will require surgical erbs palsy treatment to recovery from a birth injury that causes nerve damage in the brachial plexus region.

Surgery, physical, occupational therapy, and hydrotherapy can help to increase a child’s range of movement in the upper extremities, keep the muscles from atrophy or rigidity, and strengthen the muscles and tendons in the affected extremities. With erb’s palsy treatment, mild cases tend to resolve within three or four months. With more serious cases recovery may occur slowly over the first 18 to 24 months of life. Typically after two years, little improvement in a patient’s condition will occur. In some cases, patients will have some degree of long term disability.

Did medical negligence contribute to your child’s shoulder dystocia or erb’s palsy? If you believe a healthcare worker had something to do with your child’s disability at birth, please take a moment to get in touch with an experienced birth trauma, shoulder dystocia and erb’s palsy lawyer. You may be entitled to financial compensation for your child’s injuries. As experienced birth injury attorneys, Thomas & Wan can review your case at no charge to

Legal Help for The Youngest Victims
If your baby or a loved one has suffered the effects of injuries at birth such as cerebral palsy or other brain injuries, please contact us today for a free case evaluation by our attorneys. Thomas & Wan has handled many birth injury cases, and can provide you with immediate advice today.