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Erbs Palsy and Klumpke's Palsy

When a baby becomes stuck under the mother's pubic bone during birth, the obstetricians call this "shoulder dystocia."

Typically, a baby's head will retract back into the mothers birth canal. The doctors refer to this as a "turtle sign." The failure to recognize the signs of shoulder dystocia can be devastating for the baby.

Historically, injury to a baby's arm and hand have occurred when an obstetrician attempts to apply traction to the baby's head in an attempt to dislodge the stuck shoulder from under the mother's pubic bone.

However, good medical practice allows a doctor to use different techniques to attempt to get the shoulder unstuck without ever placing a hand on the baby's head.

Some of these techniques include maneuvers known as McRoberts; a Woods maneuver, a corkscrew maneuver, a sweep of the anterior shoulder, and also an extreme maneuver known as the Zavanelli maneuver, which most obstetricians have never seen.  Another extreme maneuver occurs where the baby is pushed back up in to the mother's birth canal while both mother and baby are rushed to the operating room to perform an emergency cesarean section.

A doctor who places excessive lateral traction on the baby's head in an attempt to perform the delivery when the shoulder stuck, risks causing permanent injury to the nerve that runs from the neck down into the shoulder. If this nerve is stretched, it can become severely damaged and/or torn.

The injury to the nerve that runs from the neck to the shoulder is a condition known as erbs palsy. Another type of nerve injury that occurs during delivery is known as Klumpke's palsy. 

If your child has been diagnosed with erbs palsy, please call me to find out why your child suffered this significant problem. An evaluation of  your obstetrical records together with observations from your delivery will greatly assist me in determining the cause of your child's injury.

I can be reached at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at lawmed10@yahoo.com. I look forward to your call. 

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