When you’re having a baby, one of the reasons it’s so important to attend regular prenatal visits is so that your OB or midwife can monitor your condition as well as your baby’s health. You might have a pre-existing health condition that increases your risk for birth injuries or other problems during pregnancy, labor or delivery.
You can rely on your Texas medical team to recognize signs of trouble and to know what to do to resolve a specific issue or to help you and your child avoid birth injuries.
Do you have one of these maternal health conditions?
You may have felt excited, happy, yet nervous when you learned that you were pregnant. If you happen to have one of the pre-existing conditions included in the following list, your OB or midwife will want to closely monitor your pregnancy:
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Anemia
- Blood-clotting disorder
- Obesity
- Kidney disease
- Heart disease
- Thyroid problems
- This is not an extensive list as there are many other health issues that would cause the average OB or midwife to categorize a particular pregnancy as high-risk and to take subsequent precautions to help a mother and child avoid injury.
If your medical team fails to provide proper care
Pregnancy can be both joyful and challenging, especially if you have a health condition that raises the risk for birth injuries. For instance, if you have gestational diabetes or Type II diabetes, your doctor will want to closely monitor your glucose levels, insulin (if necessary) and other issues to avoid complications that can adversely affect you or your infant.
Sadly, if you receive substandard medical care, it might result in ill-health or injury to you or your child. A doctor who fails to request a C-section under circumstances that the average OB would consider cause to do so places both mother and child at risk for serious injuries, perhaps even death.
Moving on in life after a birth injury
If you’re having a baby while also dealing with a pre-existing health condition, it’s understandable that you’ll rely heavily on your medical team to keep you and your baby safe. If a birth injury occurs, you may need various networks of support in the weeks and months that follow your child’s birth.
Specialized medical care, nursing services or other types of assistance are expensive and can spark undue financial distress, which intensifies the trauma of an already difficult situation. In many cases, parents are able to seek restitution for damages by filing a medical malpractice claim in a civil court.