5 Things You Need to know about Preventable Newborn Brain Injuries
5
Things You Need to Know about Preventable Newborn Brain Injuries
What
is HIE?
HIE stands for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy(now you
see why its abbreviation is easier). HIE is a type of newborn brain damage, due
to oxygen deprivation and limited blood flow during labor and delivery. It can
happen because of a problem with mom’s placenta, an umbilical cord being
compressed or knotted, a baby getting stuck or wedged in the mom’s pelvis, preeclampsia,
or too much stimulation of the mom’s uterus from Pitocin or another drug like
Cytotec, to name a few causes.
Will
you see HIE in your baby immediately?
Some obvious signs that baby was injured at delivery
include the baby being limp, pale, blue, not crying, needing to be intubated or
requiring CPR, transfer to NICU, failure to feed, unable to be calmed,
seizures, just as a few examples. The full extent of the damage isn’t apparent
immediately at birth for a few reasons. The reason is, a brain injury from HIE
is an evolving process. Damage from HIE sometimes aren’t apparent until a child
has developmental delays such as not
being able to roll over or crawl or follow an object with her eyes.
Is
there a cure for HIE?
Sadly no. There is only a tiny window to provide one
treatment! This is called therapeutic hypothermia (total body cooling). This
can reduce the extent of permanent brain damage if done within 6 hours of birth
and can benefit if done up to 24 hours after delivery. This personally scares me
because your doctor and the nurses must really be aware of what is truly going
on. This isn’t always the case and that is SCARY. Ask questions, be your own
advocate. Having this knowledge could help save your baby’s potential risk for
brain damage.
Where
did the hospital go wrong with your baby?
HIE is preventable. The failure of the medical
professionals to follow the standard of care for your baby is what went wrong.
These mistakes include not delivering the baby on time, failure to recognize
the baby’s heart rate is abnormal (not paying attention to the fetal monitoring
strip), and failure to recognize other relevant risk factors. There are several
things that can be done to prevent HIE--prenatal testing, close monitoring
during labor, prenatal and neonatal care, discussing if a c-
section is the best
option, etc.
What
can you do if your baby has experienced this in the hospital?
Children who have HIE will almost always require
expensive treatments, therapy and need various types of support. This can be
costly. SSI and Medicare will help but will in no way cover the child’s overall
well-being for life. Also keep in mind these benefits are usually only good
until age 21 and then what? They must seek help elsewhere. This personally concerned
me because you don’t stop living at 21. You and your child didn’t even cause
this. In fact, you put your trust in the hospital and its employees were
negligent. You have a case; let us help you. Ms. Thomas and Ms. Wan at Thomas
and Wan, LLP have almost 50 years combined experience helping families get
their children the help they need. Please call 713-529-1177 today. You won’t be
disappointed. Let us put your mind at ease.
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