Cooling Bed Technique Helping in Cases of Birth Injury

In most hospitals, delivering babies is a standard routine. For babies born with brain injuries in the Fort Myers area, however, there was a very limited scope of professional ability available. Until now, that is. The Children’s Hospital Health Park is now hoping to grant the possibility of a normal life to families of birth injurynewborns.

Sports fans are not likely to forget the image of NFL player Kevin Everitt lying motionless on the football field – lying motionless because he was paralyzed from the neck down. On the way to the ER, his doctor made a decision that was gutsy and has been the instigator of several new studies and findings. The doctor decided to lower the NFL star’s body temperature to reduce the swelling around the spinal cord. That drastic decision has allowed the player to make an outstanding recovery.

Now, doctors at the Health Park hospital are using that same idea in the hopes of saving babies born with brain injuries. 

Four months ago, a baby was born and his mother thought he was dead. He had suffered a severe brain injury due to a lack of oxygen during his delivery. He was rushed to the NICU where he stayed on a cooling bed for 72 hours. The mother reports that she was afraid at that time. “He was freezing he was shaking. Yeah, it scared me; I didn’t really know much about it. I was just thankful he was alive.” The blankets, a nurse reveals, cool the babies’ core temperature to 92 degrees. This lowered temperature relieves pressure on the brain. The baby is now happy and healthy.

Previously, many babies born with brain birth injuries faced lifelong disabilities including poor vision, cerebral palsy, and seizures because there was nothing to protect and heal their brains – until now. One major caveat, an expert says, is that the treatment must start within six hours of the birth.

Before now, some babies didn’t make it because there wasn’t time to get them to another hospital.  Now, the Children’s Hospital has three cooling blankets – all of which have been donated to the facility. Hospitals in The Bronx and Westchester County are considering using this technique for their treatment of newborns.

Improvements in newborn care are occurring each and every day. Better care and better techniques are being developed. But should you still be neglected or not offered excellent care and that disregard results in injury, contact a New York Birth Injury Attorney today.