During gestation, an unborn baby's brain is susceptible to a wide variety of threats. One vulnerability is hypoxia or asphyxia, which is a lack of oxygen to the brain. Although the birthing process often causes a small reduction of oxygen supply to the baby's brain and many children are born with some level of asphyxia at birth (this is known as birth depression), there is a reserve supply of blood and oxygen provided to the infant in the uterus through the placenta. If infants are born with a small level of hypoxia at birth, they can be easily stimulated so these babies rarely ever suffer significant injuries to their brains.
However, if the newborn baby is more severely asphyxiated before birth or during birth, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy or HIE may happen. As this condition continues over a period of several hours, the lack of blood and oxygen to the brain triggers a series of events as the baby's body attempts to correct the problem. HIE can be mild or severe. If the condition is mild, the problem can be corrected; however, if the condition is severe, additional damage to the brain may occur as the brain attempts to repair itself.
HIE usually takes several hours before brain damage becomes permanent. The baby can however live a healthy and normal life if the body temperature is reduced slightly, a procedure known as brain cooling. This is accomplished by giving the baby a water cooled cap or cool fluid filled blanket which lowers the infant's temperature by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius for approximately 72 hours after birth. This in turn helps the baby's body stop dangerous reactions that would normally trigger additional brain damage.
In essence, the baby is put into a mild form of hypothermia as the temperature of the child is reduced. Currently, this seems to be the only medical treatment available for a baby who has suffered extensive birth asphyxiation. Once the brain cooling has reached 72 hours, the baby is slowly warmed back up to a normal body temperature over the next 6 hours.
Doctors must be careful in implementing a brain cooling procedure for an infant suffering from birth asphyxiation. For this procedure to be successful, doctor's need to make sure the following conditions are met:
The infant must have been brain damaged within 6 hours of birth
The gestation period of the baby must be greater than 36 weeks
The baby suffering from hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy must receive brain cooling within 6 hours of birth
If the doctor is not careful in implementing this procedure, the infant may suffer additional brain damage and even die. Brain cooling is sometimes referred to as therapeutic hypothermia or neural rescue.
If you believe your infant was the victim of medical malpractice or medical negligence and suffered severe injuries as a result, you may have a case for medical malpractice. You should contact a top medical malpractice attorney like Dr. Bruce G. Fagel right away for a free consultation. Dr. Fagel is a leading birth injury lawyer and a licensed physician, with over 10 year's emergency room experience. Dr. Fagel understands exactly how the birthing process should happen and where medical malpractice occurred during a birth injury.