Many different birth injuries can befall an infant. They fall into several categories, and understanding birth injuries can help families decide on the steps to take next.

Birth injuries causing brain damage often stem from oxygen deprivation. During delivery complications, the oxygen supply to the brain can be interrupted, leading to brain damage.

Birth injuries related to oxygen starvation can set in quickly, as the brain needs relatively large amounts of oxygen to survive, and not getting it can cause permanent damage.

Additionally, infection at birth can cause brain damage birth injuries. Brain damage birth injuries can show up as seizures or cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is damage to the part of the brain that controls movement, leading to an inability to move.

Cerebral palsy varies wildly in severity, from people who have trouble speaking or walking to near total paralysis. Brain damage birth injuries could be the fault of a physician who was negligent in several ways.

A doctor who does not conduct a C-section when it’s needed, or fails to detect and treat infections are possible negligent causes of birth injury brain damage. Additionally, if a physician fails to identify umbilical cord problems it could constitute negligence.

Peripheral nerve injuries are another category of birth defect. This includes a number of types of palsy and related conditions.

For example, in a brachial plexus injury, the nerve cluster in the shoulder is damaged, leading to lifelong paralysis, pain, numbness, and other problems in the afflicted arm. Different brachial plexus injuries can manifest as Erb’s palsy, Klumpke’s palsy, and other disorders.

This can result from problems during delivery, like the infant’s shoulder getting dislocated during birth, or other problems with the delivery. Some cases of brachial plexus injuries may be repaired surgically.

Infection from the mother is another source of potential birth injuries. A physician has a duty to diagnose and treat such problems, but negligence may lead to the spread of disease from mother to child when it can be prevented.

Various staph and strep infections can pass from mother to child, as can several viruses. Catching symptoms quickly can often be one of the few ways to reduce the severity of this category of birth injury.

Another category of birth injury is mishandling the infant during delivery. This type of birth injury is strongly tied to negligence and cause a variety of types of physical damage to an infant. This can include dramatic damage, including broken bones and lacerations, and other physical injuries. This category of birth injury can cause secondary birth injuries, like high blood pressure from stress and pain in the infant.