Dallas Prolonged Labor Birth Injury Lawyer

Have you had to undergo prolonged labor due to medical negligence? Our birth injury lawyers at Rasansky Law Firm are available to offer support and help you file a claim.

Childbirth can be a life-changing experience for a mother. It can often be simple, with your baby arriving pretty quickly in the world. However, there are also cases where labor can take up the whole day. This would mean more than 24 hours of intense pain and misery for you and your unborn baby. The emotional and mental stress that the family goes through because of Prolonged Labor is unimaginable. 

What is Prolonged Labor?

Prolonged labor happens when the labor process takes more than the expected time. It might take mothers as long as 18 to 20 hours to give birth. Longer than that would mean "failure to progress," and the case now needs extra attention. 

Medically speaking, it is called "labor dystocia." Specialists know that a regular case has gone into "failure to progress" when:

• It has been 20 hours since labor started
• There is a delay in the dilation of the cervix
• The mother has been pushing for the baby to come out for more than 2 hours
• Weak contractions

What are the Reasons for Prolonged Labor?

There can be various reasons why a mother ends up in prolonged labor. They can be linked to either the mother or even the baby. Some of the most common reasons for prolonged labor include: 

• The size of the baby
• The birth canal is too small for the baby to pass through
• The mother delivers more than one child
• The mother is stressed or exhausted 
• The baby not being in an ideal position (normally, the head should be towards the pelvis, and the body of the baby should be facing the mother's back)

How is the Mother at Risk?

Giving birth is a life-altering moment for any woman. She deserves to have a positive experience. Unfortunately, mothers often have to go through a traumatic experience due to complications. Women who go through a negative birth experience are at a higher risk of getting postpartum depression (PPD), among other issues, such as:

• Emotional Distress
• Postnatal Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 
• Infection
• Urinary Retention
• Hematoma
• Ruptured Sutures

All of these come with risks. Women who have gone through prolonged labor are 13% more likely to have a negative birth experience.

How is the Baby at Risk?

It is not just the parents who go through the traumatic experience. The baby, who is only just getting introduced to the world, also suffers in the mother's womb. This precious human life is at risk during birth in case of failure to progress. The risks involved can be:

• Deprivation of oxygen
• Infection
• Stillbirth
• Fetal Distress
• Cerebral Palsy

As is the case with mothers, all these issues bring more risks for babies as well. 

How Should Healthcare Professionals Deal With Prolonged Labor?

Doctors need to be attentive and manage expecting mothers by monitoring labor levels carefully. Immediate action can help save the mother and the baby. Many a time, prolonged labor can be life-threatening, and a quick response can help solve problems.

Potential Treatments

 Healthcare professionals treat prolonged labor in several ways:

• Cesarean delivery can be a safe alternative, depending on why the labor process is going slowly. Doctors opt for this in most cases. As discussed, prolonged birth can lead to significant problems. Specialists go for this option to eliminate the associated risks. 
• If the baby is stuck in the birth canal, doctors might opt for assisted vaginal delivery to help the mother. Often, a vacuum or forceps are used to pull out the baby. This procedure can be risky.  
• Doctors often speed up the labor process by giving a hormone called Oxytocin. It helps induce labor by stimulating uterine contractions. 

Failure to Provide Effective Treatment

Treatments for prolonged labor are used according to the way the patient is responding. The type of treatment selected also depends upon the stage of labor the mother is at. 

A healthcare professional might, in some cases, fail to administer these treatments because: 

• They might not have monitored the mother and the baby closely.
• In the case of an assisted vaginal birth, they may have failed to use the appropriate tools properly and caused brain damage to the baby. If the tools had not been properly sterilized, they might have caused an infection for both mother and baby. 

Besides this, making the right decision at the right time can save the mother and the baby from a great deal of pain. For instance, if a doctor chooses to treat the mother with Oxytocin early, she might not have to opt for a Cesarean delivery and could have given birth naturally. Similarly, choosing a Cesarean later on in the labor process can cause the baby fetal distress, amongst other problems. 

Failure to provide timely treatment is considered medical negligence, and you can file a legal claim against the healthcare professional. 

What is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider puts a patient at risk in their professional capacity. 

Healthcare professionals need to exercise great care in everything they do. Overlooking factors that might appear small can result in patients experiencing unnecessary pain.

Can Parents Sue Doctors for Medical Malpractice?

Yes, depending on the circumstances, parents have the right to sue the doctor or medical facility for medical malpractice for birth injuries. Although doctors are required to take the Hippocratic oath before being inducted into the field of medicine, some of them have a tendency to be irresponsible. Healthcare is a risky field where professionals have the lives of their patients in their hands and should act with extreme caution before taking any steps that may put these lives in danger. 

Contact our prolonged labor attorney to file a claim and seek compensation if you've had a traumatic experience involving prolonged labor. At Ransasky Law Firm, we have the most competent and experienced lawyers in Dallas to help you.

Key Takeaways

Expectant parents put an immense amount of trust in their healthcare providers. They spend months browsing through lists, having discussions, and deciding on a specialist whom they can completely depend on in their vulnerable moments. However, sometimes, professionals tend to skip over the crucial details and fail to take care of a mother and her baby, leading to disastrous consequences. Some may even be reckless and negligent to the needs of their patients.  

In such cases, the birth injury lawyers at Rasansky Law Firm in Dallas, Texas, are available 24/7 for parents to help get possible compensation for the trauma they have had to endure. Contact our birth injury lawyers anytime for a free consultation.