How Do Attorneys Use Medical Tests to Prove Negligence During Labor and Delivery?

A baby’s heart rate can change depending on how much oxygen the baby’s getting during delivery. Contractions, giving Pitocin, these are all things that cause stress to a baby and can impact the delivery of oxygen. The baby has no way of communicating to the outside world, except with its heart rate. And so the providers will monitor that either with a belt along mom’s belly or an internal. Monitor and what that’s monitoring is the heart rate and the heart rate tells the provider if there’s a potential problem or not, and it dictates what they are required to do by the standard of care. So if the fetal heart rate is showing concerning signs and the providers aren’t acting the way they are required to, it can lead to injuries to the baby by suffering oxygen deprivation that is severe enough and long enough to cause permanent brain damage.