Ohio Birth Injury Lawyer: Vacuum Extraction Complications

In some cases, obstetricians use vacuum extractors to guide an infant through the birth canal. When they make mistakes, complications from vacuum extraction deliveries can result in brain bleeding, shoulder damage, paralysis, and skull fractures in newborn babies.

You trust your healthcare provider to protect your baby from harm as a parent. Sadly, a mistake during your child’s birth can have devastating impacts on your child’s health. Ohio law protects the rights of birth injury victims, allowing them to recover compensation for medical bills and other expenses caused by a physician’s negligence.

If your child suffers from a complication of vacuum extraction, you should contact a birth injury attorney as soon as possible. Reaching out to The Eisen Law Firm can be important in protecting and securing your child’s future. Call our Cleveland, Ohio, medical malpractice, and birth injury law firm at 216-687-0900 or contact us online for a free consultation.

Vacuum Extractions

Health care providers can perform vacuum-assisted deliveries, or vacuum extractions, during vaginal births, the Mayo Clinic reports. During a contraction, the professional applies a vacuum to the baby’s head to lead the baby through the birth canal. The vacuum is a cup—which can be soft or hard—that applies to the baby’s head, which the person delivering the baby releases after the baby has come through the birth canal.

Physicians often suggest vacuum extractions when labor fails to progress despite contractions and pushing. Prolonged labor, problems with the baby’s heartbeat, and other health concerns make vacuum extractions sometimes necessary. However, vacuum extractions come with risks and are not always advisable.

When Vacuum Extractions Are Risky

Although vacuum extractions can help save the lives of infants, they can also cause harm in some cases.The baby can sustain serious injuries or die when a physician makes an error and performs a vacuum extraction incorrectly or performs a vacuum extraction under unfavorable, risky conditions. Conditions that make performing vacuum extractions risky include:

The mother has a small pelvis relative to the baby’s anticipated size.
The baby is particularly large and cannot fit through the birth canal.
The birth is premature, or the pregnancy has not progressed beyond 34 weeks.
The baby’s head is not in the correct position for a vacuum extraction; instead, the shoulders, buttocks, or arms come through first.
The health care professional cannot identify with certainty the location of the baby’s head.
The infant has osteogenesis imperfecta, a condition affecting the strength of the baby’s bones. People with osteogenesis imperfecta have bones that break or fracture easily. The condition can cause multiple fractures, and babies can suffer broken bones in the womb. Vacuum extractions can cause severe skull fractures in infants with this condition.
The baby has hemophilia, which impairs blood clotting, leading to excess bleeding. If the baby bleeds during birth, the baby’s body may not be able to stop the bleeding normally.
The infant’s head has not progressed beyond the midpoint of the birth canal. The baby’s head must be in the right position for a vacuum extraction birth to be safe.

Risks To Children

Although rare, severe injuries can arise from vacuum extractions. Injuries that babies may experience include:

Scalp and head injuries
Shoulder dystocia, in which the baby’s shoulder is stuck in the birth canal
Inner skull or brain bleeding
Skull fractures
Cerebral palsy, which is a disorder affecting movement, balance, and posture
Brachial plexus injuries, such as Erb’s palsy, which is muscle weakness or paralysis in the baby’s shoulder and arm

Risks To Mothers

In addition to the harm to infants, vacuum extraction deliveries can harm mothers as they give birth. Mothers can sustain:

Urinary and fecal incontinence
Perineum pain
Trouble going to the bathroom
Lower genital tract tears

Although vacuum extractions can result in severe harm in some cases, many of the risks of vacuum extractions are also present with vaginal delivery, according to the Mayo Clinic. Unsuccessful vacuum extractions can make Cesarean sections — procedures in which the physician delivers the baby surgically by making an incision in the mother’s abdomen – necessary. Cesarean sections carry their own risks. Learn more about C-sections here.

Compensation Available for Vacuum Extraction Birth Injuries

If your child sustained a birth injury as a result of a vacuum extraction delivery, you might face significant medical bills. An attorney can help you recover compensation in severe cases, such as cerebral palsy resulting from a failed vacuum extraction. Your child may need lifelong, expensive services to support their condition. For instance, your child may need a wheelchair, you may need a wheelchair ramp for your home, and your child may require physical therapy and speech therapy.

In Ohio, compensation is available to victims of birth injuries such as vacuum extraction injuries. The term for legal compensation is damages. Damages you may be able to recover include:

Compensatory damages provide payment for the financial costs of treating birth injuries. These damages can cover lost wages, medical bills, costs of prescription drugs, and medical equipment expenses. Suppose you had to stay home from work because of your baby’s injury. In that case, you may be able to receive compensation for your lost wages.
Punitive damages punish the person who demonstrated a reckless disregard for your child’s safety and caused severe harm. These damages are less common but can be appropriate in particularly egregious cases.
Noneconomic damages, including pain and suffering, loss of consortium, disfigurement, and mental anguish. Your child and your family may suffer severe emotional injury due to your baby’s condition.