Tag: maryland birth injury law firm

Uterine Rupture and Birth Injury

Posted on by YostLaw

Uterine rupture in pregnancy can be life-threatening for the mother and baby. Signs and symptoms associated with uterine rupture should be identified by a medical provider through careful monitoring of the mother and baby during labor and delivery, and include:

  • Significant uterine bleeding
  • Severe chest pain or abdominal pain
  • Falling blood pressure in the mother
  • Abnormal or absent pattern of uterine contractions (visible on the fetal monitoring strip)
  • Abnormal fetal heart rate (visible on the fetal monitoring strip)

If the uterus ruptures, the baby may not be getting the amount of oxygen needed to survive. This obstetrical emergency requires an immediate caesarian section (C-section) delivery. If the symptoms of uterine rupture are not recognized and immediately treated by medical providers, the complete (anoxia) or partial (hypoxia) interruption in the baby’s supply of oxygen can cause permanent brain damage.

Hypoxic and anoxic brain injuries can cause disabilities such as cerebral palsy, delays in development and seizure disorders. If you would like to discuss your child’s potential brain damage claim arising from a uterine rupture during labor and delivery, the attorneys at Yost Legal Group are experienced professionals ready to investigate your claim with compassion and determination.

Call The Yost Legal Group today at 1-800-YOST-LAW (967-8529) for a FREE, confidential, no-obligation consultation.

At The Yost Legal Group, you will never pay an attorney’s fee unless we achieve a recovery for you. We don’t get paid until you do.

klumpke’s palsy

Posted on by YostLaw

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report there are 3,952,841 babies born each year in the United States.  Approximately one in every 1,000 of these births result in an injury to a baby’s brachial plexus – a webbed network of five nerves located below the neck and above each shoulder.  The brachial plexus controls movement and the sense of touch in the fingers, wrists, arms and shoulders. A brachial plexus injury may be the result of a medical provider’s mistake.

If the baby weighs too much (macrosomia) or has shoulders too wide for the birth canal (feto-pelvic disproportion), the baby’s shoulder can get caught (shoulder dystocia) on the mother’s pelvic bone during vaginal birth. When this happens, the baby’s head presents but the baby’s body does not descend through the birth canal.  Shoulder dystocia is an obstetrical emergency that requires immediate, safe and appropriate procedures to gently free the baby’s shoulders and deliver the baby.  If the doctors, nurses or other medical providers apply too much pressure (e.g., fundal pressure or lateral pressure) and/or pulling (traction) to the baby’s head, neck, arm and shoulders during delivery, the baby can suffer a brachial plexus injury such as stretching, tearing, rupture or avulsion of one or more of the five nerves which form the brachial plexus.

Different than Erb’s Palsy, which affects the upper brachial plexus nerves (specifically C5, C6 and C7), Klumpke’s Palsy results from an injury to the two lowest brachial plexus nerves (C8 to T1), which are responsible for controlling movement of the hand and forearm muscles. Therefore, while Klumpke’s Palsy and Erb’s Palsy can be caused by the same type of medical mistake, they’re still two very different injuries.

Symptoms of Klumpke’s Palsy include:

  • Claw hand
  • Drop wrist
  • Paralysis in the forearm and hand
  • Numbness in the forearm and hand

Treatment is limited for this type of hand and forearm injury. Surgery is recommended for damaged nerves that are unable to heal on their own. Additionally, physical therapy will be required. The cost of care for a child with Klumpke’s palsy, or any birth injury, is very high. If your child’s injury was caused by a medical mistake, the experienced Birth Injury lawyers at The Yost Legal Group are here to help.

Call The Yost Legal Group today at 1-800-YOST-LAW (967-8529) for a FREE, confidential, no-obligation consultation. When you call, you will speak with a Baltimore Birth Injury attorney with real experience absolutely free.

At The Yost Legal Group, you will never pay an attorney’s fee unless we achieve a recovery for you. We don’t get paid until you do.

Study Finds Diabetes Drug Glyburide Increases Risk of Birth Injury among Pregnant Mothers

Posted on by YostLaw

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s (JAMA) Pediatrics edition has found a strong link between the diabetes drug glyburide and several severe birth complications including respiratory distress, hypoglycemia, and large size for gestational age. Glyburide is a widely used drug prescribed to pregnant women to treat gestational diabetes mellitus, also known as diabetes developed during pregnancy or GDM.

Gestational Diabetes is a somewhat common condition that occurs in between 200,000 and 3 million women every year in the U.S. The JAMA study examined a large and diverse group of expecting mothers who had developed diabetes, or any degree of glucose intolerance, after becoming pregnant. After examining the results of the study, it was determined that women treated for Gestational Diabetes with the drug glyburide were far more likely to experience birth complications than mothers that were treated with normal insulin.

Mothers treated with glyburide were found to be at a higher risk to give birth to children that would require neonatal intensive care admission than those that received treatment with insulin. Children of mothers that were treated with glyburide were also found to be more likely to develop hypoglycemia, respiratory distress, birth injury, and were more likely to be large for their gestational age.

The study found that women treated for GDM with glyburide rather than insulin were:

  • 2.97% more likely to require neonatal intensive care unit admission
  • 1.41% more likely to give birth to a child that is large for gestational age
  • 1.11% more likely to give birth to a child with respiratory distress

Glyburide is currently a widely prescribed GDM medication for pregnant women all over the country. The results of this study have now called into question the safety and efficacy of the drug, and the JAMA concluded that much more significant testing must be done before the drug can be declared safe for use in expecting mothers.

Women who are pregnant must be meticulously careful about everything that they eat and drink, as well as what medications they take. Small changes in diet or prescription medication can have a lasting and dramatic impact on the health of a fetus, which is why it is so vitally important for drug manufacturers to properly test all medication before declaring a drug safe for use in pregnant women.

When mothers experience tragic birth injuries as a result of a defective or unsafe medication, drug manufacturers must be held accountable. At The Yost Legal Group, Baltimore, Maryland Defective Drug law firm, we aggressively litigate a wide array of defective drug cases, and have both the medical and legal knowledge required to pursue major insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

If you experienced any problems during birth, if your child was born with a birth defect, or if the birth resulted in trauma to the baby, call The Yost Legal Group at 1-800-YOST-LAW (967-8529). When you call, you will speak with an experienced Baltimore Birth Injury attorney who will review your situation for free.

The Yost Legal Group – Experienced Lawyers Dedicated to Protecting Your Rights

Contact Form

DO I HAVE A CASE?

Contact us at the Yost Legal Group for a free initial consultation. We can help to provide information about ongoing litigation or discuss the circumstances of your individual case. There is no fee or expense unless you recover.