Brachial Plexus Injury Subject of New York Malpractice Claim

A resident of Kings County, New York and her minor child are suing Brooklyn Hospital Center on charges that the attending medical personnel were reckless and negligent in the plaintiff’s prenatal and delivery room care, causing the minor daughter to suffer a brachial plexus injury and right arm paralysis. The claimant’s birth injury lawyers filed the medical malpractice claim in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

The infant in question, who was born on February 22, 2010, has been diagnosed with Erb’s palsy and according to court documents continues to be lame, bruised and injured on various parts of her head and neck, and will need rehabilitative medical care for the foreseeable future. The lawsuit alleges that the hospital physicians failed to consider a Cesarean section delivery, and departed from acceptable medical practices leading to the child’s preventable injuries.

Brachial plexus injury blamed on negligent medical care

While the mother had a family history of gestational diabetes, a condition that can lead to an oversized baby (known as macrosomia) and potential birthing complications, the Brooklyn Hospital Center failed to consider or order a C-section.  The complaint also says that doctors failed to perform a sonogram prior to the child’s delivery, which would have indicated the need for Cesarean delivery, given the baby’s weight and size. Instead, the child was delivered vaginally despite the presence of macrosomia and the process was further complicated by shoulder dystocia.

The delivery room staff allegedly failed to detect this right shoulder dystocia and used excessive traction and force on the baby’s neck, head and shoulders, rather than using recognized maneuvers for facilitating the safe removal of the posterior arm or shoulder.

Additional allegations state that the defendants:

• Failed to diagnose gestational diabetes in the mother
• Failed to diagnose cephalopelvic disproportion
• Applied excessive downward and lateral traction on the child’s head
• Failed to detect abnormal progress of labor and order a C-section
• Failed to perform proper and timely tests, examinations and medical care

Since brachial plexus nerves are responsible for the function and feelings of the fingers, hand and arm, when those nerves are torn or injured during a difficult delivery, a child may then be diagnosed with Erb’s palsy, which may result in permanent paralysis. Larger babies are more prone to experience shoulder dystocia, and this lawsuit alleges that a series of medical mistakes led to the preventable injuries of the minor plaintiff.

Types of brachial plexus injury

Depending on the trauma to the network of nerves, brachial plexus injuries may be categorized as follows:

• Neuropraxia: the nerve has been gently stretched and will usually heal on its own
• Neurotemesis: where the entire nerve is divided, resulting in a poor recovery prognosis
• Rupture: a stretch injury that may partially tear the brachial nerves
• Avulsion: most severe case where the nerves are completed detached from the spinal cord

Get legal assistance today

The birth injury lawyers at Balkin & Eisbrouch have extensive experience in medical malpractice litigation and understand the standards of care imposed on health care professionals. If your newborn was diagnosed with Erb’s palsy resulting from a brachial plexus injury, contact our law offices today for a complimentary case evaluation.

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