Peripartum cardiomyopathy is often discovered during the last few weeks of a pregnancy but may be diagnosed within five months of delivering the baby.
A physician can diagnose the condition during a regular pregnancy check, but sometimes a mother will visit her OB/gyn with unexplained, unusual symptoms such as palpitations, shortness of breath, swollen ankles, persistent fatigue, and increased urination.
In most instances, the first thing a doctor would check would be the lungs, to determine if there is fluid in them. This is usually accomplished by tapping the lung area with the fingers, like playing percussion on a small drum, and listening with a stethoscope. If there are any unusual sounds, such as crackling in the lungs or the heart rhythm is not steady, the doctor checks for swollen neck veins and/or an enlarged liver. The mother’s blood pressure may also drop if she has peripartum cardiomyopathy.
A responsible physician runs various tests to find out what is affecting the heart that may include, but not be limited to: a nuclear heart scan, an ECG, chest x-ray, coronary angiography and chest CT scan. Although this is a serious condition, it is reversible with prompt and appropriate treatment with the right range of drugs.
If your doctor neglected to diagnose peripartum cardiomyopathy, birth injury lawyers Chris Mellino and Tom Robenalt welcome you to contact our Cleveland office for a free consultation. You may also download or request Chris’ free, easy-to-read guide to filing a claim in Ohio.
The post Doctors Need to be Aware of Peripartum Cardiomyopathy in Expectant Mothers first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Asphyxia – lack of oxygen – occurs when a baby’s brain or organs are deprived of the vital element during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or directly after birth. Cells require oxygen to function properly, and when there isn’t enough, waste products (like acids) can build up in the cells, causing damage. The damage may be temporary or long-term, and even permanent in some cases.
What can cause asphyxia? There are many potential causes to consider, including (but not limited to) physiological abnormalities or traumatic birth and medical error. Some of the factors in birth asphyxia may include:
Seattle Children’s Hospital, whose neonatalists conduct research into improving treatments for babies suffering asphyxia, reports that asphyxia may occur in about 4 out of 1,000 full-term deliveries and it may be more common in pre-mature births.
Quickly identifying and addressing the medical or physical causes of a lack of oxygen to the brain can have life-saving results. Medical providers, such as an obstetrician and delivery room staff, should be alert to the following signs that may indicate a lack of oxygen to the brain:
For precise treatment, doctors and hospital staff have numerous tools and tests that will assist in the diagnosis of asphyxia such as:
If proper protocol was not followed and it resulted in serious injury, aClevelandbirth injury attorney may discuss legal recourse with the parents.
Prompt treatment of birth asphyxia is instrumental in controlling the damage that can result from a lack of oxygen to the brain. The proper protocol will depend on the baby’s age, health, and overall condition. Among the possible courses of treatment are:
Failure to provide proper medical attention can be disastrous in such a scenario. Lack of oxygen to the brain may lead to brain injury or brain damage relating to birth trauma. The March of Dimes reports that five to 10 percent of cases of cerebral palsy are caused by birth injury, for example, including lack of oxygen to the brain during birth.
As such, birth asphyxia can be considered a costly and devastating birth injury, and one that may be caused (in some instances) by medical negligence or error in which case a Cleveland birth injury attorney can help parents recover compensation for damages.
If you have questions or concerns, we welcome you to contact our Cleveland office today for a free consultation. You may also download or request attorney Chris Mellino‘s free guide to filing a claim in Ohio.
The post Birth Asphyxia and Brain Damage: How Oxygen Deprivation Can Lead to Injury first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>“Soccer players are repeatedly hitting their head [or, using the top of their head to redirect the ball], and we know that multiple head injuries tend to be worse than just one,” Lipton stated. “My area [of expertise] is mild traumatic brain injury, so I look at how much does it take (to have a lasting effect).”
To study those cumulative effects, Lipton asked 37 amateur soccer players, nearly three-quarters of whom were male, to approximate how often he or she headed a ball per year, so he could group them into three categories: low heading, medium heading, and high heading. He then scanned their brains with a special MRI test called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tested the players’ memory skills.
Bearing in mind that participants’ age averaged 31 and that they’d played soccer for an average of 22 years and for about 10 months in the last year, Lipton determined that players who headed a ball about or more than 1,800 times per year scored lower on memory tests.
Why?
“Overall, the imaging showed that players who reported heading the ball more frequently had areas of the brain with lower FA [fractional anisotropy] values,” Fox News reported. Or, as Lipton stated, “The more heading people did, the more likely they were to have abnormalities of brain microstructure and worse cognitive performance.”
Given the small scale of this study, Lipton isn’t yet urging soccer moms to buy helmets for their children, but that may come. The National Institutes of Health has awarded him a $3 million grant to continue his research.
“I think that what people should take away from this at this point is that there may be risk involved in heading; that’s about all we can say … The biggest message here is we need to do the research and confirm what the risks are, and if they’re confirmed, develop ways to address them,” he said.
Below, Cleveland traumatic brain injury attorney Chris Mellino enumerates TBI symptoms and discusses the difference between a head injury and a brain injury.
The post Traumatic Brain Injury Expert Studies Soccer Players first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>According to the Columbus Dispatch, Dr. Michael Lipton, associate director of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, will conduct MRIs as 50 participants perform tasks involving short-term memory, inattention, and impulsiveness.
Those participants include 25 Ohio veterans with traumatic brain injuries and one brother or other close male relative each, so the doctor can compare a damaged brain to a healthy brain and rule out factors such as genetics and upbringing.
Traumatic brain injuries occur when the brain is jarred or shaken inside the skull, such as in a car or truck accident. Army veteran Ryan Gleich “suffered his most significant brain injury in 2003 outside Baghdad when a roadside bomb lifted the tail end of his Humvee from the road and tossed him across the vehicle,” the Dispatch reported.
Almost immediately, Gleich became antisocial, “ultra-aggressive,” and forgetful, which led to his divorce. Six years later, the 33-year-old has remarried and found help from support groups, but he still finds it difficult to motivate himself to leave the house, he said.
“Chase Russell was injured in multiple close-range explosions in 2010 and 2011 in Afghanistan,” per the Dispatch. “The worst was in September 2011, when a suicide bomber blew up his base.”
Like Gleich, the 25-year-old veteran has shut himself off from friends. He also has a hard time keeping a job and lacks the focus to go to college. “Nothing is really the same as it used to be,” he said.
Below, Cleveland brain injury attorney Chris Mellino discusses the difference between a head injury and a brain injury, common causes of a brain injury, and symptoms of a traumatic brain injury.
The post Traumatic Brain Injury Expert Studies Ohio Veterans first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>“I didn’t want to be surrounded by more of me,” she told Fox News. “I didn’t feel good about myself because of my disability.”
In fact, it sometimes embarrassed her, so she avoided glancing at her reflection in windows as she struggled to walk down the street.
But after she and Dr. Mike Noetzel with the St. Louis Children’s Hospital discussed the lack of advancement in cerebral palsy studies since the 1960s, Brunstrom-Hernandez opened the country’s first cerebral palsy-dedicated clinic, United Cerebral Palsy.
Since May 1998, she and her staff have treated nearly 2,000 cerebral palsy patients from around the world. For the last 10 years, Anna Marie Champion and her seventh-grade daughter, Morgan, have traveled to St. Louis from Atlanta.
“We went to St. Louis and it was a whole different approach,” Champion said of Morgan’s treatment. “It has turned her life around completely.”
Brunstrom-Hernandez may owe the success of her clinic to her own mother, who seemed to know that constant movement was the secret to a cerebral palsy patient’s success.
“Her mother made her keep moving, even requiring her to stand in the kitchen to do dishes when it was the last thing the little girl wanted to do,” Fox News reported. “Moving around the clinic [now], only Brunstrom-Hernandez’s gait shows any effects of her cerebral palsy.”
Difficulty walking is one of many cerebral palsy symptoms, which range from mild to severe, according to Mayo Clinic. Others include tremors; drooling; speech, vision, and/or hearing impairment; and rigidity or spasticity.
The 50-year-old doctor now stresses the importance of exercise to patients, such as 15-year-old Sam Ward, who said, “She helps me walk better. Just be better.”
Brunstrom-Hernandez says the doctor-patient relationship has mutual benefits.
“They saved my life,” she said. “They taught me how to believe in myself. They taught me how to look at myself differently.”
Cerebral palsy can sometimes be caused by oxygen deprivation or a head injury at birth. Below, Cleveland medical malpractice lawyer Chris Mellino discusses how to determine the cause of your baby’s cerebral palsy, what to do if your baby suffered a birth injury, and how a medical malpractice attorney may be able to help.
The post Doctor’s Cerebral Palsy Gives Her a Unique Perspective on How to Treat Patients first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>“He was laughing when they passed people,” Bradley’s father, Brent, told the media. “He thought it was funny.”
Bradley’s family, classmates, and triathalon teacher, Derek Warner, encouraged him to participate. Bradley’s involvement was “the highlight of everything I’ve ever done with Grand Haven High School and teaching,” Warner said.
At home, Bradley can move around without assistance, but, otherwise, he needs a wheelchair. As is typical of cerebral palsy patients, his motor skills and speech are also affected.
According to Mayo Clinic, “Signs and symptoms appear during infancy or preschool years. In general, cerebral palsy causes impaired movement associated with exaggerated reflexes or rigidity of the limbs and trunk, abnormal posture, involuntary movements, unsteadiness of walking, or some combination of these.”
WebMD states that the cause of cerebral palsy cannot always be determined, but it can be caused by:
Premature birth;
Failure to get the necessary amount of blood, oxygen, or other nutrients before or during delivery;
A serious head injury or infection that affects the brain, such as meningitis; or
Genetics.
Below, Cleveland birth injury attorney Chris Mellino discusses how to determine the cause of your child’s cerebral palsy and what to do if a doctor injured your baby during delivery.
The post High School Student With Cerebral Palsy Competes in Triathlon first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>A hospital spokeswoman told a local news station that “Merritt violently awoke from anesthesia and fought with medical personnel. In the process, … his breathing tube came dislodged.”
More specifically, says the malpractice firm handling the case, doctors proceeded to operate on Merritt’s jaw two days after the shooting despite the fact his airway was still swollen and obstructed. The anesthesia team then failed to follow the customary extubation plan, and Merritt became “uncontrollable,” turned on his side, and yanked out his breathing tube. He suffered the brain injury while deprived of oxygen for 7 to 8 minutes as doctors attempted to reintubate his swollen airway.
“[Merritt’s] combative behavior was foreseeable and if the anesthesiologists followed their own [extubation] plan, Sheriod would have been fine,” said one attorney.
Instead, he’s unable to talk, walk, or play with his son.
“I love you, Dad,” was the last thing Sheriod Merritt said to his father, Patrick, before being rolled into the operating room.
The Georgia jury deliberated nearly two days before reaching the $17.5 million verdict.
Below, Cleveland brain injury attorney Chris Mellino discusses whether you can sue an Ohio doctor for malpractice if you are partly at fault for your brain injury.
The post Anesthesiologists’ Mistake Leads to Brain Injury and $17.5 Million Malpractice Verdict first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Today, 10-year-old Shannon Reilly’s mother, Danni, is “thrilled,” according to their now-“humbled” lawyer, Thomas Moore.
Suffolk County’s second-highest malpractice verdict in history will pay home healthcare and physical therapy costs for Shannon, who was deprived of oxygen at birth. Since the cerebral palsy patient is unable to swallow, speak, walk, or write without assistance, her parents worried what would happen to her if something happened to them.
“The agony of the last 10 years is finally ended with the knowledge that our beloved daughter will be protected for the rest of her life,” Danni reportedly told Moore.
The hospital will move for a retrial or file an appeal in a higher court, according to Long Island’s Times Beacon Record. The hospital’s attorney, Peter Kopff, is confident that the appellate court will reduce the $92.5 million the jury allotted for pain and suffering. In Suffolk County’s record-setting judgment of $212 million in 2007, the jury allotted $20 million to a brain-damaged infant for pain and suffering. The appellate court reduced that amount to $4 million, and the $212 million total ultimately decreased to $67 million.
“The saddest part of this case is that … had the nursing team communicated with the obstetrician just 15 minutes sooner,” said Moore, “this terrible tragedy could have been avoided.”
Below, Cleveland birth injury attorney Chris Mellino discusses what you should do if your baby suffered an injury at birth and what it may cost to hire a birth injury attorney in Ohio.
The post Cerebral Palsy Patient Wins Near-Record-Setting Judgment Against Hospital first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>