Infant Birth Injuries Due To Epidurals
While epidurals used during birth labor are utilized and intended to reduce maternal pain, they are not without risks. Some of these risks affect babies in addition to mothers and surrogates. For example, epidurals may cause prolonged labor,1 and while rare, this in turn may result in hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in an infant, a form of brain dysfunction caused by a decrease or lack of oxygen or blood flow to the infant’s brain.2,3 HIE can be recognized by a variety of symptoms, including breathing problems, distorted muscle tone, a lack of common reflexes, and seizures, among other things.2 It can...
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