Knowledgeable and Experienced Guidance

Reviewing the causes of clavicle fractures

On Behalf of | May 11, 2018 | Birth Injuries |

Today’s technology has most expecting to go into their local hospitals and return home with their newborns in just a couple of days. That was certainly the expectation that those who here at The Melvin Law Firm have assisted in the past held before seeing their babies go through the agony of birth injuries. Even with the aid modern medical advances, childbirth is still traumatic (particularly for your baby). Often, overzealous OB/GYNs can make it even more so.

Bone fractures can often be the result of delivery, with the most common type of break being a clavicle fracture. If that is what your baby sustained during delivery, then you may have been told that it was likely due to any one of a number of different factors (none of which, you are told, can be attributed to a provider’s actions). Indeed, according to information shared by Nationwide Children’s Hospital, potential reasons for your baby suffering a broken clavicle can include:

  • Him or her being large for his or her gestational age
  • You having a particularly narrow birth canal
  • Your baby’s shoulder simply becoming stuck during delivery

However, a provider’s use of extraction tools (such as forceps) can also cause clavicle fractures. Questions often arise as to whether doctors turn to such tools simply to make a delivery progress faster rather than them actually being warranted.

Why should this matter? Hopefully, your baby’s fracture will heal completely on its own. However, given the clavicle’s proximity to the brachial plexus, a fracture could result in lasting nerve damage. The potential of that outcome becomes all the more frustrating if the possibility exists that your baby’s fracture could have been prevented.

You can learn more about the causes of birth injuries by continuing to explore our site.