Memphis Birth Injury Lawyer Explains Brachial Plexus and Related Nerve Injuries

Undoubtedly, any parent will tell you that his or her child is the greatest joy in their life.  Parents want the best for their children even before the child is born during prenatal care.  It is obvious that the entire process of pregnancy is incredibly difficult for all involved; it is stressful and trying.

It goes without saying that the birthing process itself is extremely complicated and difficult.  This is why most Americans trust the hospital staff and a specialized physician to effectively deliver their baby.  While the vast majority of births come easily, unfortunately too many are plagued by natural birth complications.  Others, sadly, are caused by unnatural birth complications caused by medical providers.

One such complication and injury are brachial plexus nerve injuries.  These injuries occur about 1-2 times per 1,000 births and most are acute, meaning they are not permanent.

The brachial plexus itself is an amazingly complicated but fascinating series of nerves.  This is a serious of nerves originating from C5-T1 vertebra in your neck and top of your shoulder.  The nerves extend outwards through the interosseous groove on the top of your shoulder, between your collarbone and trap muscle (shoulder shrug muscle).  The brachial plexus nerves are really a series of large branches which split and combine multiple times from the neck all the way to the fingertips.  As they come along from the neck and under the interosseous groove, they are compression through the shoulder griddle (armpit) and begin to branch off.  These nerves consistent of both motor nerves (movement) and sensitive (hot, cold, pain, pressure, etc).

During the birthing process, these nerves can be stretched, torn, or severed at the shoulder griddle where they are being compressed through the narrow gap there.  This can occur when the baby is in the wrong position, his or her shoulder is caught in the birthing canal, or the baby’s body is twisted in the wrong way.  A medical provider who attempts to pull a baby out by the arm or shoulder risks causing injuries to these valuable nerves.

So why do the medical providers pull by the arm then?

Most times it is an emergency situation where the fetal distress alarms are going off, the placenta is wrapped around the baby’s neck, or there is severe bleeding to the mother.  There are many different types of Tennessee birth injuries.  The majority of the time, these types of emergencies can be avoided.  While some cannot, adequate monitoring, pre-delivery checks, and preparation can prevent these harms from happening.

Thus, it is important to have a resourceful Memphis birth injury lawyer to evaluate your case.  It is simply not enough that there was a brachial plexus injury to your baby because these can be a natural part of the birthing process and an emergency therefrom.  There needs to be negligent factors which caused the injury to your baby.  This takes an incredible amount of resources, time, and skill to understand what happened both at the time of the delivery, but also throughout the prenatal process leading up to the delivery.

Here are Bailey and Greer, PLLC our Memphis birth injury lawyers understand how to effectively pursue your claims.  Our legal team has a proven track record of compassionately representing our clients injured in Tennessee personal injury cases which is included in our testimonials page and our successful case results.  Please contact us today to receive your free case evaluation by dialing locally to 901-680-9777 or toll-free to 877-819-4414.