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Group B strep (GBS) can cause serious infections in newborns. Prenatal screening and antibiotics during labor, when indicated, help reduce the risk of early-onset GBS disease. When a baby suffers a serious infection, families may have questions about whether screening results and other relevant information were acted on appropriately.
At The Becker Law Firm, we help Ohio families understand what happens when a group B strep birth injury may have been connected to a missed screening or a failure to treat. If your baby developed an infection after delivery, call 216-480-4620 to talk with our team.
Group B Streptococcus, or GBS, is a type of bacteria that lives in the digestive and lower reproductive tracts of many healthy adults. Carrying GBS isn't an illness, and most people who have it never know. It usually causes no symptoms in the mother, which is exactly why testing matters, since there's no other way to know whether you're a carrier.
During labor and birth, a baby can come into contact with GBS bacteria in the birth canal. Most babies exposed to GBS stay healthy, but some develop infections that can progress quickly, including sepsis, pneumonia, and meningitis.
Newborns, particularly premature babies, have immune systems that aren't fully developed, which makes an infection harder for them to fight. The goal of screening and treatment is to lower that risk before the baby is born.
ACOG recommends routine GBS screening between 36 weeks, 0 days and 37 weeks, 6 days of pregnancy, unless antibiotics during labor are already indicated because of GBS in the urine during the current pregnancy or a previous newborn with GBS disease. The screening involves a swab of the vagina and rectum that is tested in a laboratory.
A positive result generally indicates a need for antibiotics during labor. GBS-specific antibiotics are not required for a cesarean birth performed before labor begins and before the membranes rupture.
Some patients don't have a screening result when labor begins, because they went into labor early, didn't receive routine prenatal care, or the result wasn't available.
When GBS status is unknown at the start of labor, factors that may indicate a need for antibiotics include:
A previous newborn with GBS disease or GBS found in the urine during the current pregnancy generally establishes a need for antibiotics during labor without a routine screening result.
When a patient tests positive for GBS, or has risk factors with an unknown result, the standard approach is intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis, meaning antibiotics given through an IV during labor. These measures are intended to reduce early-onset GBS disease during the first week of life, not to prevent every infection that may develop after birth.
Antibiotics are most effective when administered at least four hours before delivery, although shorter exposure can still provide benefit. Necessary obstetric care should not be delayed solely to complete that four hour window.
A missed screening or a missed treatment is not one single type of error. A breakdown can occur at several points in care:
Early-onset GBS disease appears in the first week of life, usually within the first 24 hours. A newborn with an infection may have trouble breathing, a fast or irregular heart rate, a low or unstable temperature, poor feeding, lethargy, or seizures.
GBS infection can cause neonatal sepsis, a life-threatening response to infection. Sepsis and meningitis in a newborn can lead to lasting harm, including brain injury, cerebral palsy, hearing or vision loss, and developmental delays. Only a qualified medical team can diagnose these conditions, and every baby's situation is different.
If your child suffered a serious injury after a newborn infection, call The Becker Law Firm at 216-480-4620 to discuss whether a legal review may help clarify what happened.
Not every newborn GBS infection reflects a mistake. Some babies develop GBS disease even when screening was done and antibiotics were given on time, and a bad outcome alone doesn't establish that anyone was negligent. The legal question is whether the care fell below the accepted standard and whether that failure caused the harm.
A review of an infection-related birth injury generally involves:
If your baby developed a serious infection after delivery, you may be left wondering whether it could have been caught earlier. Managing partner Romney Cullers leads the team of lawyers and medical professionals at The Becker Law Firm. Since joining The Becker Law Firm in 2014, he has personally recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for clients.
In recent years, our lawyers have secured the largest settlement in Ohio history for injuries to an individual plaintiff and the largest wrongful death verdict in Ohio Court of Claims history.
The Becker Law Firm reviews medical records and works with qualified medical experts to investigate whether a failure in care contributed to a child's injury. Contact The Becker Law Firm at 216-480-4620 to discuss your family's situation.
