Birth Injury Risks for Premature Infants

There are few things more devastating to new parents than discovering their child has an injury or birth defect. The risks of such injuries and defects are higher in children born prematurely. Prematurity, or babies who are born at less than 37 weeks of gestation, and those who weigh less than 3.3 pounds, have increasingly improved survival rates because of medical advancements. However, there has not been as much success in developing ways to prevent brain damage and other birth injuries in premature infants.

Several factors can contribute to a high probability of birth injury, some of which include:

• Prematurity (born before 37 weeks)
• Larger babies (more than 8 lbs. 13 oz.)
• Prolonged labor
• Abnormal presentation
• Multiple babies
• Placenta previa
• Gestational diabetes
• Preeclampsia
• Infection
• Abnormalities of the cervix

One of the leading causes of birth injury is oxygen deprivation at the time of birth and in the days and weeks following birth, according to David Rowitch, chief of neonatology at the University of California, San Francisco in a story on NPR.org. These tiny infants are quite fragile and vulnerable to stress, Rowitch went on to say.

When infants are born before their lungs have fully developed, they are dependent on a breathing machine to help them breathe and to get oxygen to their brain. Rowitch said that oxygen deprivation to the brain can damage the white matter, which is called myelin. Myelin acts as an insulator for the nerve fibers that carry messages back and forth between the brain and the body’s nervous system. Deficiencies in myelin prevent these messages from getting through.

Vittorio Gallo, a researcher from the Children’s Medical Center in Washington, D.C. is part of a team of research scientists that published a paper in the Society for Neuroscience journal on their development of a drug that has been proven to speed up myelin production in mice. The prospects for this area of research are promising because the same injury to myelin that occurs in perinatal brain injury also occurs in patients with multiple sclerosis, in traumatic brain injury and when a person has a stroke, according to Mark Goldberg, another researcher from UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Some of the more common birth injuries that can occur in premature infants include

• Perinatal asphyxia
• Infant Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)
• Cerebral palsy
• Intracranial hemorrhage
• Spinal cord injuries
• Cephalohematoma

The diagnosis and treatment of birth injuries can be incredibly high. Some of the tests and procedures might not be covered under the family’s health insurance. If the injury is severe, the child may require ongoing medical treatment for the rest of their lives. Parents whose infant suffered a birth injury due to medical negligence may be able to take legal action against the doctor and the hospital to recover compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering and the other losses that the child might experience as a result of the birth injury. A medical malpractice attorney from Bailey & Greer, PLLC can answer all of your questions about your legal options. We even have a registered nurse on staff to assist with medical malpractice and birth injury cases.

When you are facing a birth injury, the compassionate Memphis birth injury attorneys at Bailey & Greer, PLLC, are ready to listen to you and discuss your case. We advocate aggressively on behalf of our clients in helping them to get the compensation they deserve for their losses. Contact us at 901-680-9777 today or fill out our contact form to schedule a free initial consultation to discuss your case.