According to the World Health Organization’s Newborn Health Unit, birth asphyxia accounts for almost 1 million infant deaths every year, making it one of the primary causes of infant deaths. In this article, we discuss the causes of this all too common birth injury, its effects on infants, and the steps medical providers should be taking to prevent it.

What is Birth Asphyxia?

Birth asphyxia (also known as perinatal asphyxia) is a term applied to several situations causing inadequate intake of oxygen by an infant either before, during or just after birth.  These situations significantly reduce your infant’s oxygen levels and can cause large amounts of acid to build up in the infant’s blood stream, leading to serious organ damage.

There are many causes of birth asphyxia, including:

• Umbilical cord compression: Compression of the umbilical cord can reduce or even completely cut off the supply of blood and oxygen from the mother to infant before, during and for a short while after pregnancy.
  
• Meconium aspiration syndrome: This situation occurs when the infant inhales a mix of amniotic fluid and meconium (the infant’s first feces). The inhalation of this mixture can prevent the infant from properly using its lungs at birth.
  
• Prolonged or difficult labor: Difficult labors can place the infant under a significant amount of stress, causing changes in the infant’s blood pressure that make it hard for the infant to get the proper amount of oxygen.
  
• Low oxygen levels in the mother during pregnancy: Obviously, anemia or low oxygen levels in the mother can result in the infant not getting enough oxygen in its own blood stream.

Certain types of pregnancies and pregnancy-related conditions increase the risk of an infant developing birth asphyxia, including:

• Births involving multiple children (i.e., delivering twins, triplets, etc.);
• Abnormal fetal positioning during delivery;
  
• Preeclampsia or eclampsia in the mother; and
  
• Low birth weight.
  

If not caught early or if left untreated, birth asphyxia can cause numerous short and long-term health problems, including:

• Cerebral palsy;
  
• Still birth/death;
• Sight and hearing impairment;
• Autism;
• Low IQ Scores;
• Epilepsy;
• Psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia;
• Kidney problems;
• High blood pressure;
• Respiratory distress; and
• Acidosis (that is, the buildup of excess acid in the infant's blood stream).

How is Birth Asphyxia Related to Medical Malpractice?

The key to preventing and, if necessary, treating birth asphyxia is vigilance on the part of your medical providers. Your medical team should already be aware if you have risk factors predisposing your infant to birth asphyxia and should be taking adequate steps to ensure you do not have a problem. Many of the causes of birth asphyxia, such as cord compression, fetal distress, and low oxygen levels, can be detected and treated in a timely fashion if the mother and child are appropriately monitored before, during and after birth.

Unfortunately, many medical providers fail to provide proper monitoring or fail to recognize classic symptoms of conditions that cause birth asphyxia. This improper monitoring of the mother and baby may lead medical providers to miss precious opportunities to provide needed interventions and treatment, such as controlling body temperature, regulating blood pressure, providing intravenous (“IV”) nutrition, increasing the mother’s oxygen supply or performing an emergency or cesarean delivery (“C-Section”).

What Should I Do If My Child Suffered an Injury or Death due to Birth Asphyxia?

You need to contact an experienced attorney immediately. DO NOT DELAY!

Birth injury cases require an extraordinary amount of immediate and experienced investigation. Your attorney will likely need to obtain and review thousands of pages of medical records which will then need to be reviewed by an expert. This is an expensive and time-consuming process that must begin as soon as possible to determine whether you have a claim. You also need an attorney with a thorough knowledge of the practice of medicine, the resources necessary to take the case to trial and who is part of a time team that will prosecute the case.

At the Law Office of Alvin F. de Levie, Esq., our team has decades of experience handling cases resulting from birth injuries caused by medical malpractice.

We handle cases throughout Pennsylvania: From Philadelphia and the surrounding counties to Centre County, from Central Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh, and from the New York border to the borders of West Virginia and Maryland. If your child has suffered an injury or someone died as a result of birth asphyxia or another birth injury, please call our firm – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – at 844-777-2529 (Toll Free) or (215) 696-3900 for a consultation. One of our team members will be in immediate contact with you. We maintain offices throughout Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, State College and Bellefonte. We are willing to meet any clients throughout the Commonwealth.