A recent study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology links night time births and rural hospitals to an increased risk of brain injury. The study followed two million full-term babies born between 1999 and 2002 and showed that those born at night (or at a rural hospital) had a higher risk of encephalopathy.
The study stops short of explaining why there is an increased risk associated with night time birth or birth in a rural hospital. However, the study's author has been reported as saying that lower quality of care may be responsible. Fatigue and lower staffing numbers at night, for example, have been linked as possibly causing lower quality care. Rural hospitals, some have theorized, are unable to attract high quality medical personnel.
Encephalopathy is a "broadly characterized nonspecific disorder" that increases the risk of long term disability. Babies born with encephalopathy have a 50% - 60% chance of suffering other harm, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, other mental disability and even death.
The risk was highest for babies born between 10 pm and 4 am. These babies had a 22% higher risk of neonatal encephalopathy than the babies born between 7 am and 7 pm.
We Want To Help
If your child has suffered a birth injury in northwest Pennsylvania, we'd like to know about it. If our Pennsylvania medical malpractice investigation reveals that the injury was avoidable and was caused by medical negligence or carelessness, we'll help you and your child to get the compensation the law requires. For a free consultation with an Erie birth injury lawyer, call toll free 877-505-9548 or locally at 814-580-5017.
