Infant Spinal Cord Injuries and Symptoms from Birthing

If you or your baby have experienced spinal cord injury at birth, you aren’t alone. Baby spine problems are so common that children and infants represent 5% of all spinal cord injuries in the United States. 

In some cases, the damage is the result of a birth injury due to misdiagnosis, hospital dysfunction, or lack of concern for serious risk factors by the attending medical professionals. 

When this happens, the effects of infant spinal cord injuries can be devastating. Depending on the location of the injury on the spinal column, it could affect the rest of the body and lead to lifelong injuries. 

Doctors and hospital systems can be held responsible for injured patients and wrongful death incidents. It is important to document how the injury happened, whether anything could have been done to prevent the damage, and if your child may recover. 

In this short guide for parents of injured infants and adults with long-term injuries from birth, you’ll learn how these injuries typically happen, what symptoms should be investigated, and what these injuries may mean for your family’s future.

How Do Infant Spinal Cord Injuries Happen During Childbirth?

Infant spinal cord injuries can happen for many different reasons, and not all of them are the responsibility of the hospital.

Pregnancies are naturally risky medical operations, and some percentage of them will not be successful even if parents and medical professionals follow the best practices as closely as possible.

Some injuries are the direct result of negligent actions. Doctors and nurses may fail to follow the required procedures or fail to act on chart information. Medical devices used by the hospital can also fail, causing serious conditions to go unnoticed by healthcare workers.    

The causes of spinal cord injuries include all of the following:

• Traction on an infant’s trunk
• Rotational stresses to the spinal axis
• Cephalopelvic disproportion, a condition that occurs when the baby’s head is too large for the mother’s pelvis. Mistakes can occur during the complicated recovery procedures, including cesareans. 
• Hyperextension of the fetal head (called “turtle syndrome”) from abnormal birthing positions (most common during breech and face-first)
• Brachial plexus Palsy-related damage to the spinal cord and nerves
• Over-stretching of the spinal cord
• Mistakes during breech births (when the baby is born bottom first). These deliveries must often be assisted, and mistakes pose serious risk of pediatric spinal cord injuries.
• Transverse arrests are prolonged labors that involve mechanical obstruction of the head.
• Shoulder dystocia, which occurs when the baby’s shoulder becomes stuck on the mother’s pelvis bone during the attempt at delivery. 
• Other types of birth trauma with effects that depend on the level of the injury.

Complete spinal cord injury: A complete injury occurs when the spinal cord suffers a complete tear. This is one of the most serious types of spinal injuries. Immediate medical attention is needed to prevent death when possible. Surviving patients will likely face a lifetime of medical care, occupational therapy, and other personal challenges and costs.

Incomplete spinal cord injury: An incomplete injury occurs when the spine is damaged, but only partial movement and sensation loss occurs below the damaged level. As long as signals from the brain are still reaching lower areas, there is a significantly better chance of milder symptoms or even recovery.

Remember that spinal defects are not the same thing as spine injuries. What sets spine injuries apart is that they occur during the delivery process, due to the conditions of the delivery, while defects develop during the pregnancy. Delivery doctors can do very little about disabilities that have already developed, and can’t be held responsible for their effects.

In most cases, you will not be able to sue an obstetrician over any defects. An experienced birth injury attorney will help answer your questions and determine whether you have a case for medical malpractice.

Not all spinal injuries will be immediately visible. You may need to watch for symptoms so that you can consult with a specialist as soon as you see any signs. 

Infant Spinal Cord Injury Symptoms

Infant spinal cord injury symptoms vary depending on the part of the spinal cord that was injured and the severity of the damage. 

Data from the Boston Children’s Hospital found that around 60% to 75% of all spinal cord injuries sustained by infants and children are in the neck area, generally the area that causes the most serious damage. About 20% of infant spinal cord injuries occur in the upper back or chest area, while 5% to 20% occur in the lower back portion of the spine.

Note that not all symptoms will be experienced in each case. Common infant spinal cord injury symptoms include:

• Loss of touch sensation
• Failure to move or paralysis
• Bowel and bladder control problems (not typically recognized until the infant is a toddler)
• Abnormal reflexes
• Spasms
• Stinging pains caused by nerve damage around the spinal cord
• Difficulty breathing
• Muscular weakness
• Intellectual disabilities

Is Infant Spinal Cord Damage Permanent?

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), some infant spinal cord injuries are permanent while some are repairable. When an injury is incomplete, the brain may be able to send messages to the spinal cord in order to recover motor and sensory function. On the other hand, when an injury is complete, a total loss of the sensory and motor function occurs, which makes the chances for recovery very slim.

Fortunately, many spinal cord injuries are mild and will not cause permanent damage if proper treatment and healing is implemented. Physicians may use braces or even steroids to help heal the area and prevent further damage.

How Spinal Cord Birth Injuries are Treated

Spinal cord injuries should be identified and treated as fast as possible. When healthcare providers fail to recognize these injuries early, their negligence may result in even more serious injuries. A complete diagnosis of the infant is usually necessary. This may involve a range of expensive hospital services including blood tests, CT scans, X-rays, and MRIs. 

Infants that have potential spine damage are immobilized immediately to prevent them from moving around and increasing the damage. This requires separation from their parents in the earliest hours of infancy, which can cause significant emotional pain for the infant and mother.

Treatment is possible in some cases, and surgery may be used to limit damage or to ensure a faster healing process. Any infant under care for spinal injuries will likely require long-term hospitalization. Babies with spinal damage will require assistance feeding and performing other tasks, which can only be safely performed with hospital equipment like ventilators.

Discuss Your Case with a Seattle Medical Malpractice Specialist 

If your newborn child has a permanent spinal cord injury and you believe that it may have been caused by medical negligence during the birth process, you should seek legal advice from a qualified birth injury lawyer today.

Seattle’s birth injury lawyers at Tinker Law Firm, have years of experience representing families harmed by medical malpractice, birth injuries, and other personal injuries. We seek justice for patients who preventable medical errors, including wrongful death, catastrophic injuries, and traumatic brain injuries in Seattle and across Washington State, have harmed. 

There are no fees or expenses to file a personal injury case as we only receive payment if we recover damages on your behalf. Do not delay; personal injury claims come with a statute of limitations, which means they must be filed within a certain time frame of the injury.

Call us now at (206) 752-4366 or use our birth injury contact form to schedule a free consultation with one of our compassionate, experienced Seattle injury lawyers. We are ready to fight for you.