With birth injury cases, medical malpractice attorneys have to explain to the jury the differences between a normal labor and delivery, and a negligent birth delivery. During a delivery, the placenta supplies the baby with the oxygen and blood supply through the umbilical cord. If the placenta doesn't function properly, the baby won't get enough oxygen or blood, causing injuries to the baby's brain. This may occur quickly and without warning, if the placenta suddenly separates from the uterine wall before the baby is delivered, or if the umbilical cord prolapses through the birth canal, getting trapped against the head or other body part, kinking, and cutting off the blood supply to the baby.
A sudden and severe situation like this where the umbilical cord gets wrapped around the baby's neck or other body part, creating a kink, and cutting off the blood supply, can lead to a midbrain injury, causing cerebral palsy. The midbrain affects the motor center and coordination; therefore in this situation, the baby will be born cognitively normal, but having physical paralysis.
There are other birth injury deliveries that may have occurred because the medical staff failed to recognize the warnings from the fetal heart rate monitor or failed to take action quickly enough to prevent the problem from being minor to becoming severe and permanent. The fetal heart rate monitor may be signaling to the medical staff that the baby's heart rate suddenly dropped to a dangerous level. If the medical staff is not able to promptly fix the problem, the baby may need to be delivered through an emergency cesarean section or C section. No matter which avenue the medical staff decides to take, prompt attention to correct the problem is critical to the baby's health and well-being. Failure to take the proper action quickly may result in permanent brain injuries to the baby or even death.
In a medical malpractice case, experienced medical malpractice lawyers such as Dr. Bruce Fagel, will relate all this back to the process of labor and delivery to show the jury how the doctors actions or inactions, or the nurses inattention to the fetal monitor strip, or the failure to perform a C-section if applicable, caused the injuries to the babies brain. An expert medical malpractice birth injury attorney will then be able to show a jury what the lifelong consequences will be to the child and demonstrate how much the medical costs will be to provide this child with proper medical treatment for the rest of his or her life.