United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I was just catching up on some postings and noticed you are in S.F. We are in Northern CA. You are asking for recommendations on an Attorney, we used Carl McMahan. He is in Southern CA and has a lot of experience in BPI cases. His web address is personalinjurylawusa.com I am not trying to promote him, just giving information.

Julie Wolfgram

YESS YESSSS YESSSSS

no.... sometimes it's the mid-wife's! =-0

going to ask jeeves now.

What is important for new mothers to know is that your prior attachment to your doctor can cloud your judgement on what really happened. I loved my doctor and still considered him to be innocent after the injury happened because we had such a good relationship and I thought certainly HE would never do something to hurt me or my child or be careless in the delivery. "These things happen", he said. "It will heal on it's own." My loyalty was not based on facts but on my warm feelings toward this dr. Well guess what. I found out he lied about the whole thing and did a big cover up. He would rather save his practice than admit what he did. I will never have blind trust in any medical person again after what I went thru.
SO I am saying don't be so sure your dr. was not at fault. Do not give the benefit of the doubt to the dr. until you do your homework and know for sure that he/she was not at fault. My kid has a lifetime of suffering ahead because of that lying jerk.
It is a rude awakening to realize that yes, DOCTORS LIE sometimes and even ones we like and trust. What do they care. They just move on to the next pregnant woman and her $$.

Not all BPI's are the OB/midwife's fault, and I don't think it's right to sue simply because it happened (true negligence is different - they need to know how to handle complications). I work in medicine and my son has a BPI... my OB was a friend of mine and extremely well-respected, in practice for 20 years. I have to say I got great care, lots of ultrasounds, and she induced me at 40 weeks for fear that he might be on the big side (he was 9lbs, 4oz). I was not diabetic, and this was my first baby. You should know that it is almost impossible to accurately estimate fetal weight based on ultrasounds! Even if they did think your baby was macrosomic, most women can deliver a big baby - it happens all the time. I was a 9 lb baby and my Mom a petite, 95 pound 5'2" woman, and I came out fine vaginally. The death rate for infants born vaginally is 1 in 10,000; the rate for C-sections is 1 in 2500, so vaginal is the safer route unless you have risk factors stacking up. It is also impossible to predict shoulder dystocia; it happens fast, is an emergency, and is scary when you are on the catching side of a birth. How it ends up being handled is what counts. My birth was vacuum assisted because he was slow descending, maybe partly because of my epidural. Vacuum assists happen a lot too and are usually uneventful. I only pushed for 13 minutes, she only pulled 3 times, and when the S.D. occured, she immediately recognized it and verbalized it, they did McRobert's maneuver, suprapubic pressure, she cut a big episiotomy and swept his other arm out over his chest and used it to "corkscrew" him out from under my pubic bone. Even though I don't consider any of this her fault, she said she was sorry it happened and of course felt bad that anything happened at all... this wasn't an admission of guilt, but was just her way of empathizing.

I disagree with Steff.

There are many risk factors for shoulder dystocia. Ultrasound weight estimates are known to be a pound different in many instances. Although many woman have a US predicting the weight and have that ultrasound stating the correct weight within a pound or two, not many are way off the scales. Today there are different types of ultrasounds to look at.

I don't think that a OBGYN should be sued right away, but I do believe that it is their fault in almost all of the cases. Maybe even all. Records cover things up and the doctors, friends or not, will tell you that they did certain things to help get the baby out when they actually did not even try to do these things.

In conclusion, I believe that it is the doctors fault. I believe that there are multiple ways to predict shoulder dystocia and/or a large baby. I believe that the delivering doctors do not know how to properly handle shoulder dystocia in many of these BPI cases. I believe the doctors fail to offer CSections when it should have taken place with no questions asked. Yes, many mothers can deliver a large baby, but it is up to our doctors to know when we cannot do such a thing or when a complication may arise from looking at our risk factors or watching how the labor process is moving forward.

It's 2005. Come on. Let's make this stop and realize that this CAN be prevented. It is not something that simply happens.

BTW My doctor was in practice for 35 years, well respected, and come to find out she has multiple BPI cases against her.

guest for legal

Steff thats great you trust your doc however. If these docs would do ultrasounds prior to delivery they could possibly see that they baby is too large or trapped. i also have another question for ya since you seem to be on the doctors side then why are they trying and succeeding in getting video cams banned from delivery?????????????????????????????

it is a similar situation with us, our doc is a great man and Sarah was his first bpi injury. He has been a great help since too.

Why do some people still have contact with their doctor after teh fact that that doc caused their baby a life long problem? Can't you see that they did something wrong. Who's side should we be on? The doctors or our babies? That's a simple answer for me. Whether you decide to sue or not, please remember that this injury is something that shouldn't happen. It is preventable. It is something that was caused by a person who deep down knows they did wrong. This is what needs to be changed. If we all get together and realize it is someones fault then the world of BPIs is closer to an end. If people stick up for their doctors then it will never end. Let's remember that this doesn't need to happen okay?