Vacuum Extraction Birth Injuries Attorney
Labor and birth don’t always go according to plan. If labor stalls and medical concerns arise, your healthcare team may need to step in to assist with delivery. Vacuum extraction is one of the common methods for assisting delivery, accounting for roughly 2.5% of vaginal births in the United States. While proper use of vacuum extraction can help deliver children during difficult or prolonged labor, misuse or negligent technique can cause serious injury to either the child or the mother.
If you think your medical team was negligent in their use of this or another assistive birthing technique, it’s important that you consult with a New York birth injury attorney. Get in touch with Buttafuoco & Associates by calling 1-800-NOW-HURT for a free consultation.
What is a Vacuum Extraction Birth?
During the second stage of labor, when you’re actively pushing, your baby may not move through the birth canal as expected. This can go on for hours, which sharply increases the risk of serious complications. Depending on the circumstances, medical professionals have a number of options to assist delivery, including c-section, forceps delivery, and vacuum extraction delivery.
The vacuum extractor is a device consisting of a suction cup attached to a mechanical or electric pump. Before the procedure, the mother must provide consent and the medical team should offer pain relief. Then the physician places the cup on the baby’s head and uses gentle suction to help guide the baby while the mother pushes. Once the baby’s head emerges, the doctor completes the delivery.
A physician may recommend a vacuum extraction if:
- Labor is stalled in the second stage: This is when the mother is pushing, but there isn’t progress in the birth.
- The baby’s heart rate is “non-reassuring”: This is when the baby’s heart rate indicates a lack of oxygen during delivery. This could mean that the heartbeat is too fast, too slow, or irregular.
- The mother can’t push: This can be due to exhaustion or a health condition that prevents exertion.
Vacuum Extraction Birth Injuries
Vacuum extraction can be an effective tool to mitigate complications, but it’s not always appropriate. In fact, if used incorrectly, it can lead to serious birth injuries. That’s why it’s critical for medical providers to follow proper procedures and make the right call for both mother and baby. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states that doctors should be ready to abandon the procedure and have a back-up plan in place.
Vacuum extraction can cause minor injuries and side effects that typically resolve within weeks. These may include:
- Bruising or Lacerations: These are often minor injuries to the baby’s scalp.
- Cephalohematoma: This is when there is bleeding between the scalp and skull of the baby, causing a raised lump on the infant’s head and typically dissipates.
- Caput Succedaneum: This is swelling of the soft tissues of the infant’s scalp and typically resolves without issue.
While many of these injuries are minor and dissipate within a few weeks, improper monitoring or management may lead to further injury or medical concern; in these cases, according to a birth injury lawyer serving New York, your physician may be legally liable.
There are also more serious injuries that can occur during vacuum extraction deliveries:
- Skull Fracture: Though these are often small and resolve without lasting consequences, they may require surgery, and can lead to serious complications, including brain bleeding.
- Subgaleal Hemorrhage: This is a rare but potentially life-threatening condition that causes blood to accumulate between the skull and the scalp and can lead to hemorrhagic shock.
- Intracranial Hemorrhage: This is bleeding in or around the brain, which can often lead to seizures or apnea. In rare cases, it can cause brain damage from the pressure.
If you believe your child is suffering from a birth injury, seek medical help immediately. If you believe the injury is related to the negligence of your medical team, you should seek counsel from a seasoned birth injury attorney in New York.
Filing a Claim for Damages Caused by Vacuum Extraction
To claim damages for injuries caused by vacuum extraction, you must be able to prove the doctor acted negligently in their duties. The injury must be significant and the result of a doctor acting outside of the standard of care. There are several factors that a New York birth injury attorney may consider:
- Whether the vacuum extraction delivery was the appropriate procedure for your birth
- Whether the procedure was performed correctly under the guidelines for the standard of care.
- If the device used in the procedure (the vacuum extractor) was defective, the injury may be a product liability case, and the manufacturer or distributor may be at fault.
To evaluate your legal options, get in touch with Buttafuoco & Associates. We can help you identify and prove negligence, so that you can get the compensation you deserve for your injuries.
Call 1-800-NOW-HURT.
