NOTE: Our law firm does not handle medical malpractice cases. This article is for informational purposes only. Information found in the article does not constitute as formal legal advice and does not create an attorney/client relationship.
Forceps may be essential surgical instruments, but they can also cause significant, permanent injuries when misused. For example, you may occasionally hear about medical malpractice cases involving forceps left inside patients during surgeries.
However, the most consequential forceps injuries happen during the delivery process. These injuries can cause disabilities and disfigurement that affect a child for their entire life.
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How Many Birth Injuries Occur in the U.S.?
Statistics suggest that birth injuries are uncommon, with only six to eight infants out of every 1,000 live births suffering an injury during labor and delivery. Deaths from these injuries are also quite rare, with only about 2% of infant deaths resulting from an injury. The other 98% result from a congenital disease or condition.
Causes and Consequences of Forceps Injuries
There are instances in which a sustained forceps injury has a reasonable explanation. For example, the hospital might have suffered a power outage just as the doctor grasped the baby with forceps.
However, many birth injuries have much less excusable explanations, such as the following:
- Lack of skill
- Inadequate training and supervision
- Impairment by drugs or alcohol
- Skill deterioration due to old age or neurological disease
- Mental illness
- Fatigue
Fatigue, in particular, is quite common among healthcare providers. Doctors are notoriously overworked and sleep-deprived, so when an OB-GYN tries to deliver a baby without enough rest, their physical and mental performance may suffer. The outcome may include injuries to both the mother and her child.
Common Forceps Injuries in Baltimore, MD
Forceps extend a surgeon’s reach. They are hinged like scissors but feature grasping surfaces instead of blades. Doctors can use large forceps to grab hold of a fetus in the birth canal to manipulate it into a better position or even pull it through to complete the delivery.
The unskilled use of forceps, however, can physically injure the child. The pressure of the forceps focused over a small area of the child’s body can lacerate their skin, bruise soft tissues, and even break bones.
Two other injuries, known as caput succedaneum and cephalohematoma, can both cause temporary deformations to the baby’s head.
The former occurs when forceps bruise the scalp and cause it to form lumps on the head as the damaged tissue swells. The latter happens when forceps cause small tears in the blood vessels under the scalp. Blood pools under the scalp, producing blood-filled lumps on the baby’s head.
Forceps can also cause more serious injuries, such as internal hemorrhaging if the baby’s organs are crushed. Nerves can also be stretched, compressed, or severed by forceps, with the resulting injuries causing weakness, pain, and even paralysis.
A doctor can even fracture the baby’s skull, causing facial deformities or permanent brain damage. A child with brain damage may experience paralysis, cerebral palsy, or intellectual disabilities. They may also lose one or more senses, including their vision or hearing. And since brain cells do not regenerate, the child will suffer from these symptoms for the rest of their life.
Birth Injuries and Medical Malpractice Claims in Baltimore, MD
Medical malpractice takes place when a healthcare provider fails to meet their professional standard of care. That standard requires doctors and nurses to display the same knowledge and skills as any other reasonably competent and careful medical professional would in the same situation.
With that in mind, though, not all adverse outcomes support a medical malpractice case. Instead, your Baltimore medical malpractice attorney must show that the error that led to your child’s birth injury was unreasonable under the circumstances.
For example, you probably have a medical malpractice claim if a doctor caused your child’s forceps injury by trying to deliver your baby while drunk.
If you believe you have a medical malpractice claim, call us. We can refer you to a lawyer who handles these cases.