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Up to 70% of babies are injured in some way during birth. While most of those injuries are minor, they can still result in major problems for parents, an RMIT paediatric lecturer reveals.
A Northern Territory mother flew to Melbourne last week to see a chiropractor where she learned her three-month-old had a fractured collarbone and a dislocated shoulder, which was allegedly sustained during birth. The doctor said that for about 20 babies he sees each week, about half of them had undiagnosed shoulder problems.
“A collarbone fracture should not be missed in the hospital but quite commonly they are, and . . . parents go home with a baby that screams a lot and they don’t know why,” the doctor says.
A NY City Birth Injury Lawyer reiterates what the doctor expresses and says that a lot of parents are told their child has reflux and is given medication for that, which is highly inappropriate considering the proper diagnosis is not related to the digestive tract.
The Royal Women’s Hospital woman’s services clinical director, however, says fractures and dislocations are rare and have no long-term consequences for infants. He says the differences expressed by doctors and chiropractors result from their different specialties and he insists that doctors were not missing important health problems.
The director said that skull fractures take place in about one in 1000 births and it only takes about four weeks for fractured collarbones to heal in a newborn.
A mother from a remote community said she was shocked to learn her daughter had had a fractured collarbone and dislocated shoulder after her birth in November. She travelled to Melbourne for her daughter’s treatment because services of a paediatric chiropractor were not available near her.
This mother said she and her husband endured sleepless nights like many new parents, but also wondered why her daughter would feed only on one side and struggled to use her right arm. In Brooklyn and The Bronx, Hospitals have to be careful of injuries which occur during cchild birth.
This mother of an affected child whose pain was obvious from her crying urges all mothers to demand a thorough check of their babies before leaving the hospital and to seek help if their child seems to be unusually unsettled. A New York City Birth Injury Lawyer says not to immediately fall into thinking that you just have an extra fussy baby. Get a medical check-up and do your own research so you can figure out whether a problem exists.
In cases such as this, if the injury is the fault of a medical practitioner, a New York City Birth Injury Attorney can see to it that the responsible party at least pays for the treatment if the injury ends up being fixable. In the event of a permanent injury, a family can seek compensation for future needs as well.