Delivery by cesarean section (C Section) is a complex topic in both medicine and law. A C Section delivery is one where an obstetrical surgeon takes the expecting mother to the operating room to perform surgery to deliver the baby. A cesarean delivery contrasts with allowing delivery to proceed naturally or vaginally.
When it comes to cesarean sections, there is a careful balance that hospitals, labor and delivery nurses, and doctors should maintain.
On the one hand, health and medical experts have concerns that some hospitals and obstetricians (OB/GYN) have unnecessarily high C Section rates. Some providers encourage expectant mothers to schedule voluntary or elective C Sections deliveries for convenience, rather than sound medical reasons. Cesarean deliveries is no different than any other surgery and having unavoidable associated risks. Recommending or convincing a mom to proceed with a medically unnecessary C Section places both the mom and baby an unnecessary risk of injury.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Texas has the fourth highest rate of cesarean sections in the country, at 35% of all births. In my view, the statistic alone shows that many Texas hospitals and doctors are probably over-recommending cesarean delivery to their patients. Other birth-related statistics that are concerning for Texas include its 11th-place rank for preterm birth rate (10.8%) and 19th-place rank for low birth weight rate (8.5%).
On the other end of things, medical malpractice birth litigation usually focuses on whether an emergency cesarean section was timely performed. An emergency C Section is entirely different from an elective procedure. They are reserved for situations where an emergency medical condition makes it necessary to perform to preserve the health and wellness of the mom and/or baby.
When an unborn baby show signs of fetal distress, there’s inadequate blood flow and delivery of oxygen to the brain. This is a medical emergency that is frequently first indicated on electronic fetal monitoring and can be caused by a host of problems such as uterine rupture, cord prolapse, or placental insufficiency, among others.
When a baby is in fetal distress, it’s up to labor and delivery nursing staff to notify physician and, when indicated, to advocate for an emergency delivery. Hospital personnel need to be trained and in place to support this important emergency medical effort. The longer it takes for an emergency cesarean section to be performed, when indicated, the more likely it is that the baby will be born with permanent brain injury, such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
If someone is injured because of poor labor and delivery care in Texas, then an experienced, top-rated Houston, Texas medical malpractice lawyer can give professional advice on how to investigate the potential case.
