Each second in a delivery process is critical. When labor slows down, your medical team is at a crossroads, deciding how to ensure your baby’s delivery. In these moments, doctors may choose to use assisted delivery tools. Despite their life-saving qualities, they also carry significant risks that you must understand.
Potential mistakes in assisted delivery
Forceps and vacuum extractors are common instruments that doctors use in an assisted delivery. While these can help, your baby may suffer from these birth injuries:
- Forceps: If used with excessive force, doctors can cause skull fractures, facial nerve damage or brain bleeds.
- Vacuum extractors: If improperly used, doctors can pull the baby’s head incorrectly and cause blood to pool between the scalp and skull.
While these risks exist, Oregon law requires doctors to demonstrate a degree of care, skill and diligence when using these tools that ordinarily careful physicians use in a similar setting. If your doctor continued with assisted delivery when another safer path was available, their actions may constitute medical negligence.
Your right to informed consent
Doctors need to gain your consent before proceeding with their chosen procedure. They need to explain it to you in general terms, covering the material risks involved and other possible alternatives to help you make an informed decision.
You also have the right to ask for a detailed explanation to fully understand the context. If your doctor failed to communicate properly with you, they may have violated your rights.
Seeking a path forward
If your newborn suffered an injury due to assisted delivery, you may file a claim against your medical team. However, the legal landscape of Oregon for birth injuries can be complex. You generally have to take action within two years from the date the injury was first discovered and within five years of the medical act. If these deadlines pass, you may be barred.
Given the high stakes and imminent deadlines, it would be best to face this situation with help. Seeking legal counsel can help you determine whether you have a case.