Excessive Bleeding

Excessive bleeding during the birth and delivery of a child can lead to serious complications. If the mother loses more than 500 ml of blood during a vaginal delivery or as much as 1,000 ml during a Cesarean section delivery, that would lead a physician to define the condition as “excessive bleeding”. Sometimes excessive bleeding is also referred to as postpartum hemorrhage. In the event of excessive bleeding, the medical staff, obstetricians and other medical personnel need to respond quickly. It is important the condition is treated like any other serious trauma. If the excessive bleeding were to occur during the birthing process, it is important for the family to be informed. Excessive bleeding has been known to cause serious and permanent injury to a newborn and mother.

The leading cause of excessive bleeding during child birth and delivery are:

• Blood clots
• Insufficient uterine contraction after the birth or lack of good tone in the muscles of the uterus
• A ruptured placenta or perforated uterus
• Insufficient blood clotting

In addition, excessive bleeding can cause very low blood pressure, an arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat and other complications including:

• Anemia
• Septic shock
• Hypovolemic shock

A brain bleed to an unborn infant are often times caused by negligence just before, during or right after the delivery of the baby. Brain bleeds or hemorrhages may develop because of the lack of oxygen, the forceful use of forceps and the use of vacuum extractors.

A cerebral hemorrhage is a kind of stroke where there is bleeding in the brain. Bleeding inside the brain may occur in the subarachnoid space which is between two of the innermost membranes that surround the brain. Another kind of brain bleed is the intraventricular hemorrhage where the bleeding takes place within the brain’s ventricular system, where spinal fluid is made. This brain bleed can be caused by trauma during the delivery or it may present itself in premature newborns where their blood vessels of the brain have not yet fully developed.

There are many and varied causes of brain bleed in infants. Of the several include the circumstance where the unborn baby is large for its gestational age (macrosomic) combined with a mother whose pelvis area is relatively small making delivery of the baby’s head very difficult because of the tight fit. Another frequent cause of brain bleeds is the position of the baby just before attempted delivery, particularly where the baby is in the breech position (facing the wrong way for delivery). Another cause of a brain bleed is the trauma endured by the baby in a long and difficult labor or where there abnormal swings in blood pressure or there is a vitamin K deficiency. Naturally when birth trauma causes oxygen reduction to the baby, the lack of blood flow of oxygenated blood to the brain of the unborn baby causes a breakdown of the very delicate blood vessels in the baby’s brain leading to bleeding there.

Where doctors and nurses are faced with a baby in distress or difficult delivery issues, severe head and brain trauma to the infant may occur because of negligence in the way the doctors or nurses attempted delivery. The infant may suffer irreparable brain bleeds and brain damage because of the improper use of delivery tools like forceps and vacuum extractors. Their uses have been known to cause intracranial bleeding. In addition, improper delivery maneuvers like pulling of the baby’s head, twisting the baby and using too much force may cause devastating brain injuries to the baby.

Usually the signs and symptoms of a newborn suffering from a brain bleed will be identified by the doctors and nurses involved in the delivery. If not, parents should be looking for seizures, lethargy, apnea or poor appetite as a possible sign of intracranial hemorrhage. Severe brain bleeds may impair the mental and physical abilities of the child. Sometimes a brain bleed can be treated by surgery. Testing by MRI, CT scan or ultrasonography should rule in or rule out a newborn brain bleed.

If you or someone you know or love has been involved in a birth injury of a child in Illinois, please call us for an immediate free consultation. Robert Kreisman of Kreisman Law Offices has been handling Chicago and Illinois birth injury cases for more than 40 years.

With our years of experience in trying and settling birth injury cases, Kreisman Law Offices provides the best possible services to our clients and have achieved unsurpassed results. Our service is unmatched. Please call us 24 hours a day at 312.346.0045 or toll free 800.583.8002 for a free and immediate consultation, or complete a contact form online. There is no charge for a consultation that will include an evaluation of your case.