What is Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy

• Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)
• What is Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy?

What is Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy?

Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is a type of brain injury that occurs when the baby’s brain is deprived of oxygen. Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy or HIE can occur prior to birth, during labor and delivery, or shortly after birth. The length and amount of oxygen deprivation to the brain will determine the severity of brain damage caused by the HIE.

Babies with a truly mild form of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy may not suffer any long-term effects, but babies with moderate to severe HIE may eventually suffer from cerebral palsy, developmental delays, cognitive impairments, and/or epilepsy. Babies with this birth injury may exhibit early signs, such as abnormal muscle tone, poor reflexes, lack of alertness, breathing difficulties, feeding problems, low APGAR scores, and/or seizures.

HIE Diagnosis

When hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is suspected, the medical providers will use a combination of clinical exams, imaging tests, and lab tests to diagnose the birth injury. Some of the diagnostics tests include:

• Cord Blood Gas Test: Blood drawn from the umbilical cord artery just after birth is lab-tested to look for signs of acidosis (acid buildup). This may reveal that the baby experienced fetal distress before birth.
• Ultrasound: An ultrasound exam uses sound waves to map an image of the baby’s brain to show the extent of the damage in the brain tissue.
• CT Scan: Computerized tomography imaging test provides a 3D image of the baby’s brain structures to indicate the areas of brain damage.
• MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging is considered the most reliable neuroimaging test to diagnose hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy using 3D images of the baby’s brain.

Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy Prognosis

Estimate of Brain Damage

Babies with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy may develop varying degrees of disabilities as grow, depending on the severity of the brain injury. While some babies with mild HIE insult may experience no long-term consequences, others with moderate to severe brain injury may suffer from cerebral palsy, mental retardation, seizures, learning disabilities, or even death within the first two years.

According to researchers, the prognosis of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy based on clinical classification is:

• Mild HIE Injury: Less than 5% of the babies will develop a serious disability. But parents should note many cases of HIE called “mild” are actually more severe.
• Moderate HIE Injury: 25% to 75% of the babies will develop a serious disability or condition, such as cerebral palsy.
• Severe HIE Injury: More than 75% of the babies will develop a serious disability or condition, such as cerebral palsy.

Causes of Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy

• Failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of fetal distress
• Mismanagement of a high-risk pregnancy
• Failure to prevent a premature birth
• Uterine or placental complications
• Maternal infection, such as Group B Strep
• Improper fetal heart rate monitoring
• Medication errors during prolonged or arrested labor
• Improper use of devices during assisted vaginal delivery
• Failure to perform cesarean section when it was a medical necessity

Treating Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy

Therapeutic hypothermia administered within first six hours of birth for eligible babies can help lessen or prevent the brain damage caused by hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. Hypothermia therapy or brain cooling may be administered through controlled cooling of the whole body or selective areas of the head.

Is Your Child’s Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy the Result of Medical Malpractice?

Parents whose children are diagnosed with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy ask questions as to whether mistakes by the doctors and nurses contributed to their child’s birth injury. At Miller Weisbrod Olesky, our award-winning birth injury attorneys have represented families all over the United States diagnosed with cerebral palsy and/or hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. We use our skills and expertise to obtain for you and your child a medical malpractice settlement that will help provide specialized medical therapy in order to maximize the quality of life and live with the most common complications of this birth injury.

• Were there signs of birth injury or birth complications during the pregnancy, labor, and delivery process, or presence of risk factors, which were either not recognized or properly treated?
• During the labor and delivery, were there clear indications that the baby was suffering from fetal distress, but appropriate actions were not taken by the maternal fetal specialists, obstetrician or nurses?
• Was there a delay in diagnosis of a likely premature birth that led to later complications, including brain injury?
• Did the medical team fail to order a series of tests to diagnose this birth complication in a timely manner?
• Was the decision to perform a cesarean delivery delayed leading to birth trauma during vaginal delivery or labor?
• Did the neonatal resuscitation team fail to quickly begin important breathing support?
• Should brain cooling (also called “hypothermia therapy”) have been provided to your baby, but the doctors and nurses failed to perform the appropriate tests or ignored the results of the tests?

Our birth injury attorneys have recovered millions of dollars in settlements for families of children that have suffered a birth injury. At no point in our legal intake process will we ask you to pay anything. The medical review of your case and the consultation are free. We only receive payment when you do, no matter how long or tough your case is.

Registered Nurses and Nurse-Attorneys Are a Vital Part of Our Birth Injury Team…and Yours

Most birth injury law firms will employ one or two nurses to assist the review of cases and medical research. But Miller Weisbrod Olesky offers an unmatched number of nurses and nurse-attorney employees support to both the birth injury attorneys and our clients.

Our team of registered nursing staff and nurse-attorneys bring a deep level of medical and personal insight to every client’s case. Our nursing team includes both an experienced labor and delivery nurse as well as an ICU nurse. Working closely with the rest of the team, they investigate the reasons behind a birth injury and how medical professionals breached their standard of care.

Why Should You Talk with the Highly Capable Attorneys at Miller Weisbrod Olesky?

The only way to find out if you have a birth injury case is to talk to a lawyer experienced in birth injury lawsuits. It’s not uncommon that a birth related complication results in a preventable birth injury, including cerebral palsy, but it takes a detailed expert review by a birth injury attorney of the medical records from your child’s birth to determine if the birth injury was the result of medical malpractice.

At Miller Weisbrod Olesky, a team of committed lawyers, nurses and paralegals uses our detailed medical negligence case review process to assess your child’s potential birth injury case. We start by learning more about you and your child and the status of meeting/missing developmental milestones. Then we gather medical records to determine what happened before, during pregnancy. We call in documented and proven medical experts who review your records and let us know if they think medical errors could have caused your child’s injuries.

If we feel medical negligence caused or contributed to wrongful birth in your case, we meet with you to discuss how you can receive compensation from the medical professionals who made the errors. Our birth injury attorneys have recovered millions of dollars in settlements for families of children that have suffered a birth injury.

At no point in our legal intake process will we ask you to pay anything. The medical review of your case and the consultation are free. We only receive payment when you do no matter how long or tough your case is.

Contact Our Birth Injury Lawyers