Erb’s Palsy – A Correctible Birth Injury

Posted by Chell in Birth Injuries, Erb's Palsy, Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury

One of the growing concerns in many US states is the increasing number of medical malpractice lawsuits filed against hospitals, doctors and other health care providers. Though every doctor owes patients that they take under their care timely and correct diagnosis plus prescription of correct and effective medication, medical malpractice still happens and it continues to increase every year.

Medical errors worsen the patient’s condition besides giving him/her a new illness or injury to worry about. There are thousands of medical mistakes reported yearly and so many more go unreported. One of the most painful mistakes a medical professional can commit is that which results to birth injuries, for this particularly inflicts severe pain to the couple or to all the members of the family, instantly turning a joyful occasion into a heartrending one. Some of the most common injuries during birth include brain and spinal damage, infections, cerebral palsy, subconjunctival hemorrhage or rupture of small blood vessels in the eyes, caput succedaneum or swelling of the head’s soft tissue, and brachial plexus or erb’s palsy.

The brachial plexus, in particular, is a group of nerves located near the neck which enables the fingers, hand and arm to feel and move. Stretching it during a difficult delivery, wherein the person assisting the delivery exerts force by pulling the baby from the birth canal and stretching the nerves at the same time, is the primary cause of erb’s palsy, which is paralysis of the arm.

Erb’s palsy is nothing more but the result of a medical practitioner failure to act responsibly or exercise proper care during delivery. Though pulling the baby from the birth canal is sometimes necessary, especially if the baby is quite big, during a breech delivery (feet come out first), or during a prolonged labor, care must be observed and exercised to make sure that no injury is inflicted on the newly born.

Erb’s palsy can be corrected through a non-surgical treatment. A daily physical therapy or shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand exercises, as instructed by a physical therapist, will prevent the baby’s joints from becoming permanently stiff, a condition also known as joint contracture. But, despite its being correctable, it still renders the medical practitioner, whose carelessness caused the injury in the first place, to face the consequences of his/her careless act.