The most painful part for parents is not just the diagnosis. It is the uncertainty. Was this unavoidable, or was it preventable?
When a birth injury occurs, there are almost always warning signs. Sometimes they appear during labor on a fetal monitor. Sometimes they become clear in the delivery room. Sometimes they surface months later when developmental milestones are missed.
Modern labor and delivery units in New York are trained to detect distress and intervene quickly. When that response is delayed or mishandled, the consequences can last a lifetime.
If you are searching for signs of a birth injury, here is what you need to know.
Warning Signs During Labor
Many preventable birth injuries begin before the baby is delivered.
Abnormal Fetal Heart Rate Patterns
Continuous fetal monitoring is designed to detect oxygen deprivation. Certain patterns are dangerous, including a sustained low heart rate, persistent high heart rate, repeated late decelerations, or loss of normal variability.
These patterns can signal hypoxia, meaning the baby is not receiving enough oxygen. If oxygen deprivation continues, brain cells begin to suffer irreversible damage.
When these tracings appear, the medical standard of care requires immediate evaluation and often emergency intervention, including a C section.
In birth injury litigation, the issue is rarely whether distress occurred. The question is whether the response was timely and appropriate.
Meconium in the Amniotic Fluid
If thick green or black fluid appears during labor, it may indicate the baby passed stool due to stress. On its own, this does not prove malpractice. But when combined with abnormal heart rate patterns, it can signal significant fetal distress. Learn more about meconium.
Repeated Intrauterine Resuscitative Measures
If you were repositioned multiple times, given oxygen, or rapidly infused with IV fluids, the team may have been attempting to stabilize your baby’s heart rate.
These are warning signs that something was wrong.
Signs Immediately After Delivery
Some birth injuries become apparent the moment a baby is born.
A newborn who does not cry, breathe effectively, or move normally requires urgent intervention.
Low Apgar Scores
Apgar scores are assigned at one and five minutes after birth. They assess breathing, heart rate, muscle tone, reflexes, and color.
Persistently low scores at five minutes and beyond can indicate oxygen deprivation.
Resuscitation at Birth
If your baby required intubation, chest compressions, emergency medications, or immediate transfer to the NICU, those are not routine events.
They may signal oxygen deprivation, trauma, or both.
Abnormal Umbilical Cord Blood Gases
Cord blood testing measures oxygen levels and acidity at birth. Elevated acid levels may confirm that the baby experienced significant oxygen deprivation during labor.
In medical malpractice cases, these results are often critical evidence.
Neurological Signs of Brain Injury
Newborn seizures are never normal.
They are not always dramatic. Sometimes they appear as subtle lip smacking, repetitive blinking, staring spells, or unusual stiffening of the arms and legs.
These symptoms may indicate hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, often called HIE, a type of brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation.
If your baby underwent therapeutic hypothermia, also known as cooling therapy or cool cap treatment, doctors believed there was a serious risk of brain injury. This treatment is reserved for significant oxygen deprivation and is intended to reduce permanent neurological damage.
When cooling is initiated, it means physicians recognized a crisis. The legal question is whether that crisis should have been prevented.
Physical Trauma During Delivery
Not all birth injuries involve the brain.
Difficult vaginal deliveries can lead to physical trauma.
If your baby’s arm appeared limp or weak after birth, that may indicate a brachial plexus injury. This type of nerve damage is often associated with shoulder dystocia and excessive traction during delivery.
Improper use of forceps or vacuum extraction devices can cause skull fractures, facial nerve injuries, or other trauma.
These injuries are frequently preventable with appropriate technique and timely surgical intervention.
Delayed Signs That Appear Months Later
Some birth injuries are not obvious in the delivery room.
Parents may notice that their child is not meeting milestones. Sitting is delayed. Crawling feels uneven. Muscle tone seems unusually stiff or unusually floppy. Feeding is difficult. Speech development lags behind expectations.
These symptoms may later be diagnosed as cerebral palsy, developmental delay, or other motor disorders.
Parents are often the first to sense something is not right. Trust that instinct.
What Causes Preventable Birth Injuries?
Preventable birth injuries often involve:
- Failure to respond to fetal distress
- Delayed C section
- Untreated maternal infection
- Improper use of delivery instruments
- Failure to monitor oxygen levels appropriately
- Medication errors during labor
Not every complication is malpractice.
But when clear warning signs are visible and ignored, preventable harm becomes negligence.
When Should You Speak With a Birth Injury Lawyer in New York?
If your baby required emergency intervention, NICU admission, seizure treatment, cooling therapy, or later showed developmental delays, your medical records should be reviewed.
At Merson Law, founding partner Jordan Merson has litigated some of the most significant medical malpractice and birth injury cases in New York.
Each case is reviewed with medical experts who analyze fetal monitoring strips, labor and delivery records, cord blood gases, NICU documentation, and brain imaging studies.
If negligence caused your child’s injury, we pursue compensation that accounts for lifelong medical care, therapy, and support.
Early signs can appear during labor or immediately after delivery. These include abnormal fetal heart rate patterns, low Apgar scores, need for resuscitation, seizures, or admission to the NICU. In some cases, developmental delays may not become clear until several months later.
Yes. Many neurological injuries are not obvious at birth. Parents may notice delayed sitting, crawling, walking, or speech. Abnormal muscle tone, either stiff or floppy, can also be an early indicator. These signs often lead to diagnoses such as cerebral palsy or other motor disorders.
Oxygen deprivation is often reflected in fetal monitoring strips, umbilical cord blood gas results, low Apgar scores, or the need for cooling therapy. Seizures shortly after birth are also a significant red flag. A detailed review of labor and delivery records is usually required to determine whether hypoxia occurred.
No. An emergency C section can be life saving and appropriate. However, malpractice may occur if there was a delay in performing the C section after clear signs of fetal distress appeared.
HIE is a type of brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation around the time of birth. It can lead to seizures, developmental delays, cerebral palsy, and long term neurological impairment. Cooling therapy is often used when HIE is suspected.
A brachial plexus injury may cause weakness or paralysis in one arm. The arm may appear limp at birth or lack normal movement. These injuries are often associated with shoulder dystocia during delivery.
Not necessarily. Many babies require short term NICU care for reasons unrelated to negligence. However, extended NICU admission combined with oxygen deprivation, seizures, or traumatic delivery should be carefully evaluated.
Yes. Improper use of delivery instruments can cause skull fractures, facial nerve damage, or brain injury. These cases often require careful medical and legal review.
New York law includes specific statutes of limitation for medical malpractice cases, along with special rules for injuries to infants. Because deadlines can vary, it is important to consult an attorney as soon as possible.
Yes. Labor and delivery records, fetal monitoring strips, and cord blood gas results are critical in determining whether a preventable birth injury occurred. These records are often the key to understanding what happened.
If your baby required resuscitation, cooling therapy, NICU care for oxygen deprivation, experienced seizures, or later showed developmental delays, your case should be reviewed promptly by experienced counsel.
If Something Feels Wrong, It Probably Is
Parents searching for this information are not looking for academic explanations. They are looking for clarity.
If your child’s delivery involved distress, emergency intervention, unexplained seizures, or delayed development, do not dismiss it.
The difference between a tragic complication and preventable medical negligence is often found in the records.
And those records can be reviewed.
Speak With a New York Birth Injury Lawyer Today
Contact Merson Law for a confidential consultation.
Jordan Merson and his team have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in catastrophic medical malpractice cases throughout New York.
Your child’s future deserves answers.
Accountability matters.
