Pitocin Birth Injury Lawsuits

Doctors dealing with difficult deliveries will often induce the expectant mother with Pitocin (synthetic oxytocin hormone) to encourage uterus contractions, labor, and delivery.

Unfortunately, Pitocin labor induction drug misuse could result in fetal distress, leading to numerous birth injuries.

Did your baby suffer a birth injury related to labor contractions simulation or Pitocin error? At Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC, our personal injury attorneys know the catastrophic risks of prescribing Pitocin to treat prolonged labor and the mistakes made during induced labor.

Call our birth injury law office at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone call) or use the contact form today to schedule a free case evaluation to discuss your medical malpractice case.

Our experienced birth injury attorneys represent mothers, babies, and families suffering from medical negligence problems when doctors induce labor contractions.

Pitocin Use to Induce Labor

The body produces a hormone called oxytocin during labor contractions. Oxytocin stimulates uterine contractions.

Pitocin is a synthetic hormone used for labor stimulation or to trigger contractions due to prolonged labor or other medical complications.

Medical experts use Pitocin, the synthetic form of the natural hormone oxytocin, to induce labor contractions and help facilitate the delivery process so that a cesarean section would be unnecessary.

However, there are severe risks to using the drug due to Pitocin errors, so it is only necessary to avoid birth injuries.

The synthetic drug for inducing labor has been under scrutiny because of the harm it could cause the familyif the mother’s uterus is injured or the child suffers a birth injury due to Pitocin errors.

Doctors Should Exercise Caution When Recommending Pitocin

Therefore, medical doctors should be reluctant to use Pitocin in most cases unless it is necessary to avoid putting the child at risk for permanent serious injuries or death.

Establishing an Attorney-Client Relationship to Pursue Lawsuits Regarding Injuries in the Induction of Labor

If your infant has suffered a fetal injury during childbirth or if you have been harmed after using the drug Pitocin, you could file a lawsuit against the health care provider.

Medical professionals must uphold a standard of care in their practice, and if they breach that standard, you can file a medical malpractice claim. Contact the attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers today for your free consultation.

Why It Is Necessary to Induce Contractions

Labor simulation uses medication like Pitocin to stimulate contractions during pregnancy if there is a delay. Thus, inducing the mother during the labor process enhances the mother’s contractions in the birth canal and helps achieve a vaginal birth.

Typically, the woman’s body prepares her cervix for delivery in the most natural, comfortable way.

However, using Pitocin might be the only option when the due date has long since passed, the pregnancy has complications, or the baby’s health is compromised.

Waiting too long, over 42 weeks, could cause a decrease in amniotic fluid and an increased risk of birthing a (fetal macrosomia) newborn significantly bigger and heavier than average.

In addition, waiting too long to birth the child increases the potential of needing a C-section toavoid other complications, including meconium aspiration (fetal inhalation of fecal waste) in the baby, stillbirth, or developmental delays later.

A doctor decides to go for labor induction for various reasons, including:

• Uterus infection
• The mother’s water broke, but labor had not yet started
• The pregnancy is almost two weeks past the due date, and yet labor has not started
• The fetus is no longer growing
• There are low amounts of amniotic fluid in the womb
• The mother has diabetes or has high blood pressure
• The doctor has diagnosed placental abruption
• The mother or child has existing medical conditions

Data reveals that induction rates have increased significantly over the last few decades. But unfortunately, many medical professionals fail to encourage women to prepare for the final days and weeks of pregnancy and develop confidence that their bodies and newborns will be ready for labor and delivery.

While women know that labor can start spontaneously, a doctor’s recommendation for more Pitocin usage during labor might alter the normal birthing process.

Excessive uterine activity increases the potential of childbirth injuries and serious complications such as birth asphyxia and maternal death.

A labor and delivery nurse must carefully monitor the mother and baby’s heart rate to prevent complications that can result from Pitocin.

How Is Pitocin Administered in Labor Simulation and Uterine Contractions?

The proper use of the Pitocin causes the uterus to have frequent contractions during the birthing process. Intense contractions can occur within 2 minutes of rest time to accelerate labor.

However, the use of Pitocin by the medical team for labor simulation in a pregnant woman has become controversial.

The Apgar Score

A recent study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York showed a correlation between labor stimulation and Pitocin use with babies admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit with a low Apgar score.

The Apgar score tests the baby’s health once outside the womb. Although the test found no conclusions, more studies are being conducted on health care providers using the Pitocin during the labor process.

Concern About the Safety of Pitocin

Despite concern for the safety of Pitocin, much is already known about the dangers when Pitocin is administered intravenously to pregnant women.

It can result in excessive uterine contractions, sometimes within 2 minutes of rest time to allow the baby access to oxygen ahead of the next contraction.

The improper use or failure to discontinue Pitocin due to the uterine hyperstimulation warning signs can have serious risks and causes fetal distress, requiring close monitoring of both the baby and the mother.

The Side Effects of Pitocin on the Mother

Excess Pitocin during the childbirth process may have the following side effects:

• Painful excessive contractions
• Cardiac arrhythmia
• Pelvic hematoma
• Placental abruption occurs when the placenta detaches from the uterus
• Uterine muscles rupture
• Subarachnoid hemorrhage
• Water intoxication
• Post-delivery hemorrhaging
• Premature cervix laceration
• Death

A mother experiencing any one of the above conditions could create a need for an immediate C-section to avoid further labor simulation and Pitocin errors.

In addition, the use of Pitocin increases medical errors that could compromise the mother’s well-being leaving her with severe injuries and the child to develop complications like Cerebral Palsy or even death.

Administering Pitocin Can Result in Medical Errors and Put the Infant at Risk

Medical professionals could create severe consequences for the mother and the unborn baby if they administer Pitocin improperly.

When too much Pitocin is used during induced labor, the Pitocin overdose can affect the child, even if it does not harm the mother.

Excess Pitocin can slow the fetus’s heartbeat and cause fetus hypoxia (oxygen deprivation), hepatic necrosis (liver failure), and death.

If the child survives the induced labor, they may have permanent injuries that can affect the rest of their lives, including Hypoxic or anoxic brain damage from lack of oxygen.

• Cerebral palsy
• Liver damage
• Heart problems

Labor-induced use of Pitocin can have severe side effects even when administered correctly. Therefore, health care professionals should administer the medication with utmost caution.

Medical doctors and labor and delivery nurses should know that Pitocin errors when inducing labor could cause significant harm to both mother and child during and after childbirth.

For example, a lack of oxygen to the baby from restricted blood flow can lead to catastrophic hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) to the newborn baby during induced labor, causing cerebral palsy, the infant brain damage (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy), other serious complications, and death.

Birth Injury Attorney Handling Medical Malpractice Cases Involving Labor Induction Errors Using Pitocin

Due to Pitocin errors, many children have died or been left with permanent injuries or conditions like Cerebral Palsy.

Did you lose a child or birth a child with injuries from the misuse of Pitocin? You and your family have the right to seek compensation for your loss and medical expenses.

A medical malpractice lawsuit can be filed when a medical error causes a birth injury, such as harming the baby’s brain.

Federal and state laws hold healthcare professionals responsible for medical negligence by providing legal remedies for injured victims to receive just compensation for their damages.

A Chicago medical malpractice attorney committed to obtaining justice on behalf of their clients can hold doctors accountable when Pitocin protocols are not followed, leading to preventable birth injuries and conditions like Cerebral Palsy and death.

Legal Advice for Your Medical Malpractice Case About Induction and Pitocin Usage

At Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC, our birth injury lawyers specialize in medical malpractice and birth injury cases. We want to meet with you to hear the story concerning both the mother and the baby at no cost to you.

If we decide to pursue a medical malpractice case together, you will not be charged for our services unless we recover a financial award for your case. Our attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, meaning if we cannot secure financial compensation for your family, you owe us nothing.

Call our law office today at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone call) or use the contact form today toschedule a free consultation. All confidential or sensitive information you share with our birth injury lawyers remains private through an attorney-client relationship.

Our law firm gets results quickly because we understand you need money now. So let us begin working on your case today to help pay your medical bills and provide you with funds for your child’s temporary or permanent disabilities.

Resources:

• Mayo Clinic – Pitocin Induction
• Pitocin Use