Mistakes during labor can lead to life-threatening injuries or even death. One type of birth injury that could occur is suffocation, which is when a baby doesn’t receive enough oxygen. Perhaps the hardest part of dealing with suffocation is that this type of birth injury is often preventable. When a failure to treat or monitor your child could results in suffocation, you may be able to pursue compensation for the injuries your child has suffered.
If you plan on filing a birth injury claim, you should get the help of an attorney to prove that a doctor’s negligence led to your child’s suffocation and resulting birth injury.
Causes of Suffocation during Delivery
There are several factors that could cause a baby to stop receiving oxygen, including:
- failure to recognize or treat fetal distress;
- failure to detect or treat complications with the umbilical cord;
- administering the wrong dose or type of medication;
- failure to detect or treat toxemia (blood poisoning);
- improper use of vacuum extraction;
- failure to detect or treat maternal hypertension; and
- failure to perform an emergency cesarean section if it has become necessary.
There may be other circumstances that could potentially lead to mistakes during labor. When these mistakes result in injuries, you shouldn’t have to shoulder the financial burden alone. You may be entitled to compensation through a legal claim for damages, which can also include compensation for the emotional ordeal you and your family have been unfairly forced to endure.
Consequences of Suffocation during Delivery
Suffocation during delivery could interrupt or cut off the oxygen supply. Without oxygen, irreversible brain damage or death could result. Some believe that a lack of oxygen to the brain leads to autism.
Other consequences of suffocation during delivery include epilepsy, injuries to the lungs or kidneys and cerebral palsy.
Of course, the longer a child goes without oxygen, the more severe the birth injury will become. It takes approximately 10 minutes of oxygen deprivation, or suffocation, before death occurs.
When a Doctor’s Negligence Leads to Suffocation
In some circumstances, complications arise that cannot be prevented; however, there are some situations in which a doctor’s negligence during or after the baby’s delivery is the cause of a birth injury such as suffocation.