Diabetes Needs to be Monitored During a Pregnancy to Prevent a Birth Injury

Diabetes that is not controlled can cause harm to a fetus, the mother, and a newborn child. When a person has or develops diabetes during a pregnancy, it takes extra effort to keep the baby and mom healthy. With diabetes, extra sugar is pooled in the blood. For the mom, uncontrolled diabetes can cause kidney, heart, and eye damage. For a child, it can lead to birth defects.

Birth defects in the brain, spine, or child’s heart could be caused due to uncontrolled diabetes. Sometimes diabetes can cause a child to be born too early and experience breathing, heart, bleeding, intestinal, or eyesight problems. For some women, the child can grow too large due to diabetes. Large babies can have their shoulder nerves or collarbones injured, or suffer from brain damage from lack of oxygen while being pushed out of the birth canal. In this scenario, doctors and delivery room professionals must be proactive about delivering via C-section so as to not cause harm with a natural birth.

Some women who develop diabetes during pregnancy have what is called gestational diabetes. Doctors should check a patient for signs of preeclampsia when the mom-to-be has gestational diabetes. Preeclampsia is noted for causing high blood pressure and swollen limbs. In more severe cases, it can cause a seizure, stroke, or make the baby be born early. Gestational diabetes can sometimes stay after the pregnancy. At this stage, it would be called type 2 diabetes.

In the journal Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care, a team of doctors recently researched the “Barriers to managing diabetes during pregnancy: the perceptions of health care practitioners”. Doctors can do more to educate expectant moms about how diabetes can affect them, not just their baby during a pregnancy, they said. Women who can achieve glycemic control before getting pregnant have better pregnancies. Physicians and ob-gyns who can empower their patient with knowledge, access to medical resources, and help them have the right attitude toward approaching a pregnancy with diabetes have better chances for a successful pregnancy, they noted.

Doctors owe a standard of care to patients that have diabetes or develop it during pregnancy to address concerns and guide a patient to have a healthy pregnancy. Otherwise the medical professional or facility can be responsible for a patient death, birth injury, or other medical issue that could have been prevented.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago birth injury lawyer and Chicago birth injury attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

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