Polyhydramnios Birth Injury Lawsuits in New Jersey

Amniotic fluid plays a critical role in pregnancy. It protects the fetus from injury when a mother falls or makes other movements that could harm the developing child and keeps the fetal environment stable. However, too much amniotic fluid can harm a mother and baby for life. Our experienced team of birth injury lawyers assists clients with polyhydramnios malpractice claims throughout New Jersey and we consult on these cases nationwide. If you need further legal guidance regarding a potential birth injury lawsuit for polyhydramnios negligence, please contact us at (866)-708-8617 for a free consultation.

Understanding Polyhydramnios

Polyhydramnios is the condition referring to too much amniotic fluid that can cause permanent injury or death to either or both mother and fetus. Most often, doctors diagnose the condition in the second trimester, but it can happen near the end of the first trimester. Pregnant women may experience mild, medium, or severe Polyhydramnios, all requiring monitoring to determine when treatment is necessary.

Possible Signs of Polyhydramnios

An OBGYN may suspect the condition when a pregnant woman feels cramping and tightness in their abdomen. Other symptoms include heartburn, shortness of breath, constipation, frequent urination, and genital, leg, and feet swelling. However, these are symptoms of severe Polyhydramnios. A mild condition may not have any symptoms. Still, a physician can detect when the uterus is larger than it should be for the stage of pregnancy or the fetus’s heart or position in the uterus is hard to find. Doctors measure the uterus throughout the pregnancy and may suspect the condition after a physical exam.

Why does Polyhydramnios Occur?

Polyhydramnios occurs for several reasons, some connected to the mother and some to the fetus. For example, a fetus with genetic conditions or those affecting the brain, digestive system, or other organs may cause amniotic fluid buildup. Excess fluid may result from birth defects, especially those that affect the fetus’s swallowing ability. The fetus’s ingestion of amniotic fluid is one way to keep it to desirable levels. A fetus may also lack red blood cells, causing anemia, or have too much blood transfused from its twin from twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. On the mother’s part, gestational diabetes, maternal infection, and mismatched blood cells between mother and fetus can all potentially cause polyhydramnios. In some cases, the cause may be unknown.

Pregnancy Risks Arising from Polyhydramnios

Whether the risk factors arise from the mother’s diabetes or the fetus’s genetic disorders, the complications arising from this pregnancy danger can affect both. Polyhydramnios can cause early contractions, long labor, and respiratory problems during childbirth, among other serious complications. One significant risk is early labor and premature birth. Too much fluid may cause a woman’s waters to break. When membranes rupture early and cause a premature birth, the newborn may have multiple complications, including respiratory problems, jaundice, and other health issues. Polyhydramnios may also cause birth complications, such as breech birth, when the baby’s feet are closest to the birth canal. The optimal fetal position before delivery is head down toward the cervix.

Another danger to the fetus during delivery is umbilical cord prolapse, when the umbilical cord is between the baby’s head and the vaginal opening, causing the cord to compress and cut off oxygen and nutrients to the baby. Another complication causing oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) and permanent injury to the fetus is placental abruption. Polyhydramnios may result in the placenta detaching from the wall of the uterus, cutting off the fetus’s oxygen and nutrient supply.

Macrosomia, a baby weighing close to nine pounds or heavier, is another complication that can lead to prolonged labor and shoulder dystocia when the baby’s shoulders are stuck behind the mother’s pelvis during childbirth. A baby may be born with brain damage or other injuries when the condition causes complications that affect the oxygen or nutrient supply, or the fetus may die in utero. Fetuses 20 weeks or older are considered stillbirths when they do not survive.

When complications occur, the overseeing physician may need to perform an emergency cesarean section (C-section) to save the baby’s life. Such an abrupt change in childbirth may cause disappointment, hardship, and longer recovery for a mother. Moreover, polyhydramnios can weaken the uterine muscles, resulting in excessive bleeding after childbirth, and cause extreme respiratory problems.

As mentioned, polyhydramnios can cause brain damage to the baby. Excess amniotic fluid over-expands the uterus and damages the placenta, the baby’s source of oxygen. Also, amniotic fluid carries molecules released to fight infection, which the fetus ingests. The molecules weaken the brain’s protective barriers, which can lead to an infection in the child’s brain. Too much amniotic fluid can also cause brain damage to the mother when the fluid enters the mother’s bloodstream, causing inflammation and clotting that stop the heart and lungs from working to oxygenate the blood.

Medical Measures for Identifying Polyhydramnios

Doctors diagnose polyhydramnios by calculating the fundal height to determine whether the uterus is too big for the gestational stage. The fundal height is the distance between the pubic bone and the top of the uterus. A doctor measures the woman’s abdomen to check the size against the due date. Then, an ultrasound typically follows a physical examination to confirm the excess amniotic fluid. A physician uses the ultrasound to locate the amount of fluid in the uterus. They may measure the depth of the uterine fluid in several areas, totaling the numbers and checking them against the amniotic fluid index (AFI). Another measurement method is the maximum vertical pocket (MVP), which calculates the fluid at the deepest part of the uterus.

When AFI or MVP suggests polyhydramnios, a healthcare provider may order specific tests to check for maternal and fetal conditions. A fetal echocardiogram, nonstress test,  biophysical profile, and amniocentesis check for congenital disorders, heart rate, blood circulation, and other fetal vitals. Glucose challenge and blood tests help to identify a pregnant woman’s gestational diabetes.

What Happens after a Polyhydramnios Diagnosis?

Once diagnosed, a treating physician may simply monitor a mild case or treat the underlying causes, such as medications for diabetes or rapid fetal heart rate. Indomethacin is a drug that reduces fetal urine, and amniocentesis can reduce the amniotic fluid to ease the pregnant woman’s discomfort. When the mother or fetus’s life is in danger, the physician may administer medications to the mother to induce labor or schedule a C-section.

Common Forms of Medical Malpractice with Polyhydramnios

Though most competent physicians can recognize and diagnose polyhydramnios, their negligence typically occurs in several ways. A physician may commit malpractice by failing to note risk factors that lead to the condition. Once recognized, a medical professional may fail to order the appropriate tests to identify the underlying reason for polyhydramnios, treat the underlying condition causing the excess amniotic fluid, or monitor the condition to see if it worsens. Due to likely complications during delivery, a woman with excessive amniotic fluid should deliver at a hospital supplied with medicines and devices to immediately treat the mother and newborn in an emergency.

During labor and delivery, medical malpractice may occur when insufficient fetal monitoring causes fetal distress to go unnoticed and untreated. Fetal distress may result from hypoxia or other complications during labor and delivery. After detecting fetal distress, a provider may commit negligence by waiting too long to perform a c-section.After delivery, malpractice by the healthcare team may include failure to timely provide the newborn respiratory support or resuscitation, failure to diagnose the baby’s jaundice or hypoglycemia, or test and treat with therapeutic hypothermia to cool the brain to counter the effects of oxygen or brain blood flow deprivation.

Among the ways that birth injury lawsuits arise from polyhydramnios, failing to treat excessive amniotic fluid occurs less often than failing to plan for, recognize, manage, prevent, and appropriately treat complications resulting from the condition, such as failing to avoid oxygen deprivation, failing to treat amniotic fluid embolism, failing to monitor or identify fetal distress, as well as failing to prepare for a safe delivery when fetal macrosomia exists.

Explore Your Legal Rights and Options to File a Polyhydramnios Birth Injury Claim with Help from Our NJ Attorneys

When medical malpractice involving excessive amniotic fluid does occur, our highly accomplished birth injury lawyers can help. From evaluating a medical malpractice claim involving polyhydramnios, to gathering evidence to prove the claim, potentially negotiating a settlement for total compensation, moving forward with litigating the claim from filing the lawsuit to a jury verdict, and comforting the victims, our birth injury attorneys can serve as your legal resource, your representatives, and your first crucial step to compensation for polyhydramnios malpractice. Speak with us and receive a free case review anytime by calling (866)-708-8617 or asking for a free consultation through our easy to use form.