If your child or baby suffered injury from shoulder dystocia during child birth, you may be entitled to recover financial compensation from a shoulder dystocia lawsuit case or settlement claim. Contact a shoulder dystocia injury lawyer to request a free case review.
A team of birth injury attorneys and personal injury lawyers is investigating potential shoulder dystocia lawsuit cases and settlement claims involving children who have suffered injury or complications at birth from shoulder dystocia due to medical malpractice or negligence.
Shoulder dystocia is a birth injury or birth trauma that occurs when one or both of a baby’s shoulders get stuck inside the mother’s pelvis or on the pubic bone during labor and delivery, often delaying the birth of the baby’s body (“dystocia” means a slow or difficult labor and delivery). Shoulder dystocia is considered an obstetric emergency, as the baby’s body needs to be born so he or she can start breathing air into the lungs.
It has been estimated that about .2 to 3 percent of all newborn babies will experience shoulder dystocia during labor and delivery. It has also been estimated that approximately 20 percent of newborns who suffer from shoulder dystocia will experience temporary or permanent injury.
Shoulder Dystocia Birth Injury Lawsuit Cases
Shoulder dystocia lawsuit and settlement cases potentially being investigated include claims involving babies who, due to possible medical malpractice or negligence, suffered shoulder dystocia related complications or injuries during childbirth, including:
- Fracture to the collarbone (clavicle)
- Fracture to the arm (humerus bone)
- Brachial plexus nerve damage (stretched/torn nerves)
- Erb’s palsy
- Klumpke’s palsy
- Paralysis
- Birth asphyxia or hypoxia
- Umbilical cord compression
- Brain injury
- Cerebral palsy
- Hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE)
- Death
- Other shoulder dystocia injury cases
- Other birth injury lawsuit cases
Mothers may also experience shoulder dystocia related complications including postpartum hemorrhage, tearing of the perineum (the area between the rectum and the vagina), rectovaginal fistula, symphyseal separation or diathesis, neuropathy, tears and/or uterine rupture.
Shoulder Dystocia Medical Malpractice Claims
Shoulder dystocia malpractice lawsuit and settlement cases can include the failure of a doctor, physician or other medical provider to exercise reasonable care in diagnosing, treating, preventing and/or refraining from causing shoulder dystocia birth injuries, including, for example:
- Failing to diagnose or treat shoulder dystocia
- Failing to timely identify shoulder dystocia
- Failing to promptly perform obstetric maneuvers to treat shoulder dystocia
- Failing to promptly diagnose shoulder dystocia complications
- Failing to make sure baby receives sufficient oxygen
- Failing to identify and monitor risk factors of shoulder dystocia
- Failing to timely deliver baby via C-section or vaginal delivery
- Failing to carefully monitor baby
- Failure to order appropriate tests
- Failing to provide sufficient prenatal care
- Other medical negligence
- Other medical malpractice lawsuit claims
Shoulder dystocia malpractice lawsuit and settlement claims can include the failure of a doctor, OB-GYN or obstetrician to exercise reasonable care in diagnosing or treating shoulder dystocia complications. If shoulder dystocia occurs, appropriate treatment requires a baby’s shoulder be released from where it is trapped in a safe and timely fashion so that the baby’s body can be born and begin taking in oxygen.
Shoulder Dystocia Treatment
Shoulder dystocia treatments can include the McRoberts maneuver (mother pulls her legs toward stomach to flatten and rotate pelvis), applying suprapubic pressure (pressure on pelvis with fist to rotate baby’s shoulder), Woods Screw maneuver (using a screwing or twisting motion), Barnum maneuver (delivery of the posterior arm first), the Hibbard Maneuver (pushing the baby back into the vagina and birth canal by pushing the top of the head and applying suprapubic or fundal pressure to rotate shoulder downward), posterior shoulder delivery (delivering the arm that is free), episiotomy (incision in perineam to create space), the Rubin maneuver (use fingers in vaginal canal to rotate baby’s shoulder), or the Gaskin maneuver (create space by positioning mother on hands and knees and use gravity to release baby’s arm).
Other last resort treatment options for dystocia might include a symphysiotomy (a surgical procedure in which the cartilage of the pubic symphysis is divided in order to widen the pelvis), an intentional clavicle fracture, or the Zavanelli maneuver (baby’s head is rotated into position and flexed while constant, firm pressure, is applied pushing head back into the birth canal followed by an emergency C-Section).
Shoulder Dystocia Risk Factors
Shoulder dystocia risk factors can include fetal macrosomia (baby with high birth weight), maternal diabetes, maternal obesity, carrying multiple babies, previous shoulder dystocia, forceps delivery, vacuum extractor delivery, abnormal pelvic anatomy or small pelvis, past due date pregnancy, prolonged labor, maternal age, short stature, use of oxytocics (uterotonic or ecbolic) to induce labor, among others.
Shoulder Dystocia Signs & Symptoms
Shoulder dystocia signs and symptoms can include, among others:
- Turtle sign (head of fetus emerges and retracts against perineum)
- Shoulders fail to deliver
- Slow advancement of head
- Slow crowning
- Difficulty of chin sweeping over perineum
- Restitution is slow or does not occur
- Fatty cheeks
- Failure of shoulders to descend
- Other shoulder dystocia symptoms, signs or complications
Time Is Limited To File A Shoulder Dystocia Lawsuit. Connect With a Birth Injury Lawyer.
Deadlines known as statutes of limitation and statutes of repose may limit the amount of time that parents, families and other claimants have to file a shoulder dystocia lawsuit case to try to recover compensation for injuries due to shoulder dystocia complications at birth.
This means that if a shoulder dystocia lawsuit claim is not filed before the applicable time limit or deadline, the claimant may be barred from ever taking legal action or pursuing litigation regarding the shoulder dystocia injury claim. That is why it is important to connect with a shoulder dystocia birth injury lawyer or attorney as soon as possible.
If your child has suffered from a birth injury due to shoulder dystocia, you may be entitled to recover compensation from a shoulder dystocia lawsuit or settlement. Contact a shoulder dystocia birth injury lawyer to request a free case review.
*If your child is experiencing health issues or complications, we urge you to promptly consult with your doctor or physician for an evaluation.
**The listing of a company or product is not meant to state or imply that the company acted illegally or improperly or that the product is unsafe or defective; rather only that an investigation may be, is or was being conducted to determine whether legal rights have been violated.
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