What Is Perinatal Hypoxic Brain Injury
As early as the first week of pregnancy; there is a window of time that can hurt the developing brain of an unborn child and be the cause of lifelong problems with hyperactivity, vision, and other more devastating problems like mental retardation and cerebral palsy. These problems may be caused by a lack of oxygen getting to the brain tissue or a lack of glucose. The former could cause perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
Potential Causes
The occurrence of perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is rare – only about one to three cases are found in one thousand full-term births. Hypoxia is the lack of oxygen getting to the brain. A number of environmental factors and medical conditions of the mother can all have an effect on whether this problem can arise. Smoking by the mother may have an influence on this, as can anemia. The need for careful monitoring of both the mother’s and baby’s health is crucially important to prevent this from happening before birth.
When labor begins, there are other problems that can keep the infant from receiving the right amount of oxygen. Breech birth which means the baby may come out feet first instead of head first may cause the umbilical cord to wrap around the infant’s throat. Other problems may lead to the doctors and nurses possibly panicking and lose their focus if the mother starts to bleed heavily and the baby’s situation isn’t fully monitored.
The lack of oxygen can be devastating to a young brain and cause many problems that will require a lifetime of care. If a mistake has been made by a doctor during pregnancy or someone in the operating room at birth these parents must find an attorney to handle their perinatal hypoxic brain injury case. The child must be cared for a long time and proper compensation can go a long way in helping them on the long road ahead.
