When you get ready to give birth in an Oregon hospital, your ultimate goal is probably to leave the facility with a healthy, injury-free baby, but the birthing process is not always a smooth one. For some parents and their children, in fact, it can prove downright harrowing. Forceps deliveries, for example, which physicians sometimes deem necessary when the birthing process is not proceeding as anticipated, have the potential to cause injuries to mother and child, and in some cases, those injuries can prove quite serious. At the Law Office of Robert A. Miller, we recognize that forceps deliveries involve certain risks, and we have helped many people who experienced hardship in the wake of a forceps delivery pursue appropriate recourse.
According to the Mayo Clinic, your doctor may recommend a forceps delivery during the birth process if you have certain health conditions, such as heart issues or high blood pressure, that make normal pushing highly dangerous. He or she may also recommend this type of delivery if your labor fails to progress as it should, or if your baby appears to be in distress during the traditional birthing process.
While this type of birth involves your physician using forceps to extract the baby from your birth canal, it brings with it certain risks. As a mom, you risk suffering injuries to your bladder or urethra during forceps deliveries, and you also run the risk of experiencing uterine rupture or tears along your lower genital tract. Such injuries can lead to short or long-term side effects including uterine or fecal incontinence and the weakening of the muscles that support your pelvic organs, among others.
Your baby, too, runs the risk of suffering hardship during or after a forceps delivery. He or she may, for example, suffer eye trauma or facial injuries during the birthing process, and he or she may also experience seizures, skull fractures or intracranial bleeding, among other possible birth injuries. You can find out more about medical malpractice by visiting our webpage.