Shoulder Dystocia OftenCauses Permanent Brachial Plexus Injuries

Virginia (VA) Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Offices in VA Beach, Hampton & Elizabeth City, NC

Shoulder dystocia is one the more serious injuries that can occur in child birth. It is an injury to an infant’s brachial plexus (series of nerves running from the neck down the arms). This injury can result in a complete paralysis of the infant’s arm. The injury is permanent, lifelong, and devastating.

See also these related Virginia medical malpractice articles:
Firm Attorney Secures $2.3 Million Jury Verdict for Child Injured from Negligence with Shoulder Dystocia

Birth Injury Can Have Life-Altering Effects on a Child

The injury usually occurs when one of the infant’s shoulders gets lodged behind a bony prominent in the mother’s pelvis while the child is being delivered through the birth canal. There are several well-known maneuvers that delivering physicians should utilize when they encounter a shoulder dystocia that will allow the child to be delivered without injury.

If, on the other hand, the delivering surgeon dislodges the child by exerting excessive force by pulling the child’s head, injuries to the nerves that come from the cervical spinal cord and go down each arm can frequently occur.

It is widely felt that brachial plexus injuries caused by improperly managed shoulder dystocia are quite preventable. When they occur, it usually results in a medical malpractice claim being brought against the delivering physician, also usually an obstetrician/gynecologist.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton is a Virginia injury law firm whose attorneys focus on personal injury and accident law and have extensive experience handling medical malpractice and doctor mistake cases. Please take a few moments to review our medical malpractice case results. We have offices in Virginia Beach and Hampton, VA, but we're ready to come to you anywhere in Virginia, including Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Newport News and Suffolk, VA, if you've been seriously hurt by the carelessness of a doctor, surgeon, nurse or pharmacist.

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Shoulder Dystocia OftenCauses Permanent Brachial Plexus Injuries