Pennsylvania Abrupted Placenta Attorneys

Abrupted Placenta

The Pennsylvania birth injury lawyers of Cherry Fieger and Marciano, LLP want to make parents aware of the seriousness of the condition known as an abrupted placenta and how it may harm a mother and her fetus. Parents may have legal recourse should this situation occur.

A placental abruption, or detachment of the placenta from the uterine wall before birth, may be the result of a physical injury, maternal smoking or drug use, hypertension, high blood pressure or malformation of the uterus. This dangerous birth injury may be averted if a doctor properly monitors a woman’s health throughout her pregnancy. A failure to diagnose and treat a woman’s potential for suffering an abrupted placenta can lead to lasting injury to herself and her baby or result in a stillbirth.

The symptoms of a placental abruption should never be ignored. They include one or more of the following:

• Bleeding
• Abdominal ache and/or rigidity
• Fatigue
• Cramps

Cherry Fieger and Marciano, LLP advises that Pennsylvania mothers who experience these symptoms should contact their OB/GYN immediately, if caught early enough, medical intervention may prevent the placenta from fully detaching. The doctor can diagnose the condition through use of an ultrasound and then either hospitalize the mother for close monitoring for the duration of her pregnancy or deliver the baby immediately should the fetus be deemed viable to survive outside the womb.

The outcome of an abrupted placenta, if not caught and treated immediately, may be permanent and life-threatening. The mother could suffer internal hemorrhaging, infection and uterine scarring that might prevent her from ever conceiving again as well as endangerment to her overall health. Since the placenta is the fetus’ sole source of oxygen, damage or detachment causes oxygen deprivation, which may result in brain damage and birth defects such as cerebral palsy.

Parents in the Philadelphia area who are dealing with the devastating outcome of an abrupted placenta may not realize they can file a birth injury lawsuit against any medical professional who failed to diagnose and treat the condition properly. Mothers who were injured or rendered unable to experience another pregnancy as well as parents whose children were injured or lost due to placental abruption should contact a firm with experience handling birth injury cases in Pennsylvania like Cherry Fieger and Marciano, LLP.

Visit our site dedicated to Pennsylvania Birth Injury Law