Labor and delivery can vary in length and complexity. But, when labor is prolonged or goes on for longer than anticipated, it can present serious risks for both the mother and the baby, especially when not properly managed by the medical staff. When doctors, nurses or hospitals fail to follow accepted standards of care, prolonged labor can result in devastating birth injuries that in many cases, could have been prevented.
What Is Prolonged Labor?
Prolonged labor, sometimes referred to as “failure to progress,” occurs when labor lasts significantly longer than expected without appropriate advancement of cervical dilation or fetal descent. While there is no single definition that applies to every patient, prolonged labor generally involves extended first or second stages of labor beyond medically accepted timeframes.
Factors such as the baby’s size, his or her position, maternal health and uterine contractions, can all play a role. The legal issue in prolonged labor cases often arises when healthcare providers fail to recognize warning signs, delay necessary interventions, or if they ignore fetal and maternal distress.
Injuries Associated with Prolonged Labor
When labor continues for too long, the risk of complications increases dramatically. For the baby, prolonged labor can reduce oxygen supply, leading to fetal distress. If not addressed promptly, this oxygen deprivation can cause hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), brain damage, cerebral palsy, seizures or developmental delays. Babies may also suffer physical injuries such as shoulder dystocia, brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy), fractures or nerve damage when prolonged labor is combined with improper use of force or delivery tools.
Responsibility of Medical Providers
Medical professionals have a duty to closely monitor both mother and baby throughout labor. This includes tracking fetal heart rate patterns, monitoring contraction strength and frequency, assessing cervical dilation and responding in a timely and appropriate manner to signs of distress. When labor stalls or complications arise, medical staff must act decisively.
Accepted interventions may include administering medication to strengthen contractions, repositioning the mother, performing an assisted delivery when appropriate, or ordering a timely cesarean section (C-section). A key component of proper care is knowing when not to continue labor and when a C-section is the safer option.
How Medical Negligence (Carelessness) Occurs
Medical malpractice related to prolonged labor often involves delays and poor decision- making. Common examples include failing to recognize fetal distress on monitoring strips, waiting too long to perform a C-section, misusing forceps or vacuum extractors or ignoring clear risk factors such as a larger than average baby or abnormal fetal positioning (breech position). In some cases, understaffing, poor communication or hospital policies aimed at reducing C-section rates may also contribute to dangerous delays.
When providers prioritize convenience, cost or incorrect protocols over patient safety, the consequences can be life-altering. These failures may violate established standards of obstetric care, forming the basis of a medical malpractice claim.
Permanent Injuries and Lifelong Consequences
Birth injuries caused by prolonged labor can have lifelong consequences. For example, brain injuries from oxygen deprivation may require years of therapy and ongoing medical care. Nerve injuries affecting the arms or shoulders can limit mobility and function. Such cases often result in permanent disability, requiring assistive devices and full-time care.
Families are often unprepared for the emotional, physical and financial burdens that follow. Medical expenses, lost income, home modifications and long-term treatment costs can be overwhelming.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
The experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you. It is in the best interest of injured victims and their families in such cases to contact an experienced personal injury lawyer before contacting the people responsible for the injuries, and definitely before contacting or communicating with any insurance company, or their lawyers, investigators, or adjusters.
One of our clients secured a $2,850,000 verdict in an Erb’s palsy (brachial plexus palsy) case that was reduced by the appeals court to $1,846,000 because the verdict was so large. This was the highest amount upheld by the appellate (appeals) courts for many, many years. In addition, we recovered $1,400,000 for a newborn who lost motion in the arm during birth due to doctors applying incorrect force on the baby’s head. Also, one of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases.
We have seen cases where New York City Health and Hospital Corporation facilities deliver babies who are born with brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) stemming from negligence (carelessness), and/or medical malpractice in the labor and delivery etc. of the children, such as cerebral palsy or brain damage etc.
The following list identifies some of these hospitals (operated by New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation):
• Jacobi Hospital aka Bronx Municipal 1400 Pelham Parkway South Bronx, New York 10461 718-918-5000
• Lincoln Hospital 234 East 149th Street Bronx, New York 10451 718-579-5000
• North Central Bronx Hospital 3424 Kossuth Avenue Bronx, New York 10467 718- 519-5000
• Coney Island Hospital 2601 Ocean Parkway Brooklyn, New York 11235 718-616- 3000
• Kings County Hospital 451 Clarkson Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11203 718-245- 3131
• Woodhull Hospital 760 Broadway Brooklyn, New York 11206 718-963-8000
• Bellevue Hospital 462 First Avenue New York, New York 10016 212-562-5555
• Harlem Hospital 506 Lenox Avenue New York, New York 10037 212-939-1000
• Metropolitan Hospital 1901 First Avenue New York, New York 10029 212-423-6262
• Elmhurst Hospital 79-01 Broadway Elmhurst, New York 11373 718-334-4000
• Queens Hospital Center 82-68 164th Street Jamaica, New York 11432 718-883-3000
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys‘ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury, lead poisoning, paraplegia cases and medical malpractice cases including, brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) and cerebral palsy cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at: www.WORK4YOULAW.com
birth injuries, new york, personal injury, attorneys