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When Birth Defects Are Caused During a Forceps Delivery

When birth defects are caused during delivery itself, the heartbreak and the anger of the parents are inconsolable. After doing everything right for nine months, their child's health and future life's quality may be severely curtailed and negatively impacted by an ill chosen, falsely indicated, and perhaps incompetently administered procedure. Forceps deliveries fall into this category as having a high potential for causing problems. Yet should you truly discount their vital functioning?

Generally speaking, forceps are little more than oversized tongs which are inserted into the vagina to extract an infant who has traversed far enough out of the uterus to just need that last little bit of help to make it into the world. Though never planned, forceps are a staple of most any birthing room in a well stocked hospital and are available at a moment's notice if the child should present with sudden distress that requires immediate removal from the mother's body. In the same way, maternal distress brought on by a sudden elevation of the blood pressure that may result in serious heart problems if pushing is permitted to continue, may also persuade the attending obstetrician to utilize the help of forceps.

The birth defects that have been blamed on forceps deliveries are far reaching and are directly attributable to a doctor's ability to properly work with the instrument. Since the forceps are applied to the child's head with the intent of pulling the infant from the mother's body with the help of the oversized tongs, the danger of having an inexperienced physician press too hard is high. An immediate consequence is a skull fracture which in turn may lead to brain damage. Furthermore, if the pull on the child's body is too strong for its delicate bones, the possibility of spinal cord injuries is real and every present, and a side effect of injuries to this area of the child's body is the potential for the infant not being able to breathe on its own.

Considering the dangers and drawbacks, it is not surprising that many a physician shies away from the use of forceps and instead opts for the tried and true Caesarean delivery, yet this trend may cause more harm than good. Add to this the fact that with forceps an emergency birth may be affected literally within a few split seconds while a Caesarean requires preparation time which may permit valuable minutes to tick away, and you can see why the failure of obstetricians to permit themselves to be trained in the proper utilization of this medical instrument is actually contributing to the problems at hand instead of soling them. Therefore, when birth defects are caused during a forceps delivery the very fact that a physician may have been ill advised or inadequately trained to utilize this medical equipment needs to give pause to the medical establishment as a whole and then translate into decisive action. Although not popular with parents and doctors, the need for training in the area of forceps delivery must be made a standard practice of anyone who plans to attend births at a hospital; after all, the last thing you want to endure as a mother who is about to give birth is the sudden knowledge that your doctor is unsure how to proceed when the fetal monitor alerts everyone in the room to a problem that must be dealt with now!