United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Karrie,

I have heard from at least 4 moms that had the same experience as you. They had ultrasounds the day before or the day of delivery, and there you see a baby in a fine position (not crushed in a bad position that would cause a bpi) and you see two beautiful little arms moving around freely.

I just read an article yesterday that the author said many of these bpi cases are due to positioning of the baby well before labor. Hmmmmm...bet they don't have any ultrasounds on babies prior to labor showing these limp, motionless arms? They are so full of it!

How have they been allowed to get away with this and continue to do so more and more! I hate just sitting back and watching this happen, knowing in my heart that it will have a DIRECT impact on more and more innocent children being hurt in the future. These doctors have convinced most other ob/gyns to believe they can't predict sd and my goodness, now they can't do much of anything about it, since most are now occurring in utero. They have washed their hands free of any responsibilty...how convenient, and at the price of injuring precious children.

Patty,
I sense a little of your frustration with your comment to Karen. I feel it too. I have a hard time understanding and accepting that doctors are saying such things. Yet, I also have to accept that sometimes (on VERY rare occassions) there are babies born with bpis that did not have traction applied to their head or did not have sd. HOWEVER, what Karen is trying to say is key to proving the truth. These type of RARE bpi's are not the majority and they are clearly distinguishable from the bpi's most of our children sustained. I have been told by bpi specialists that when mom had a tumor inside pushing on the baby's plexus during birth, or that when a child has an extra rib pushing on the plexus, or if there has been crushing/wasting in utero before labor you can clearly tell the difference in appearance, involvement, etc. And when they open the baby up for surgery it is especially evident. Yet, I am CERTAIN that these bogus articles don't ever, ever tip toe into that realm. Why would they want to??? They are looking for any and every way to relieve themselves of any responsibilty/reliability. You would hope and pray medicine would put patients first, especially precious children, but we all well know it is about covering yourself over these children who are the true victims. It breaks my heart.....

it makes me sick to think that they would even dare to try to blame the mother for this injury. I accept in certain cases that this may happen to the child whilst in utero. Surely though, this must be able to be picked up on scans that all molthers have whilst pregnant? As if mothers who do have a child with bpi don't already feel guilty enough. I recently got a response from the hospital i had my baby in. They too are joining the band wagon and saying that because i had a body mass index of 50+ they could not scan me properly!! Surely that is enough of an indication to be even more vigilant. When i left the hospital after having my baby, i was quite vulnerable, they knew this at the time too. I think they thought well shes blaming herself anyway, let's home in on this and make her feel even worse. Well they have picked on the wrong person i can tell you!! I am now a much stronger person than when i left that hospital.
B*****ds aren't they!!!

Sorry for the language but that is how extremly angry this makes me feel
Clare

Oh Clare,

All this makes me extremely angry too. I just know I need to turn that anger into some positive type of action or else my experience and passion won't be of much use. Oh I agree with the ****** and I could ad a few more ********, etc., etc. We could have fun playing a fill in the blank type guessing game, couldn't we?

I would like to think most doctors are just ignorant, naive and misinformed regarding this matter but I have seen so much dishonesty that I have lost a lot of faith. They tried to blame it on me too, saying it was due to my weight gain that my baby was injured. Sick, isn't it?

I LOVE your point about how the scan should have been an indication to be even more vigilant. They use EVERYTHING as an EXCUSE and have an amazing way at twisting everything around.

I feel just like you, they have picked the wrong person. Actually, quite a while back my mom said "you know what, they sure injured the wrong baby when they injured your baby", and I think she is correct. I believe we must not react out of our anger if we hope to make a difference for future children, although we should vent away here for the sake of our sanity, but I will sure use my anger, frustration and sadness to motivate and continue to fuel my passion towards this injury. Thanks for sharing Clare!

I understand that research is very important to understanding cause and effect. What I don't understand is how, even BPI specialist can conduct a study on BPI when the "control" factor is missing. There are too many outside factors involved that can contaminate the results. Such as BPI being a very personalized injury. Every childs injury is unique to that child. There are too many variables. What about the women who deliver children that are fine and their uterus is covered in cycts and tumors. I personally know two women. What are the deciding factors that made their child come out fine? During my friends pregnancies their Dr.'s constantly monitored the babies growth and developement. If there was any sign of BPI I would think they could see it on the screen especially if it was causing any deformity in the limbs. If BPI is caused by any utero growth then maybe it was caused by the water being broke for a long long time and the baby sitting or resting on this growth for a prolonged period of time. Kinda like a pinched nerve. Like when you cross your legs too long and your feet go numb, but I still can't see how this would cause permanent injury. This is what I mean. There are to many "what if's" when you are talking about a baby developeing in utero. If they can establish a certain criteria within a group of women with utero growths than maybe they have a chance to isolate a few births that have a BP "deformity" not an injury. They already found out why BPI is caused during delivery. Shoulder dystocia and excess traction. Without it the baby is delivered safely. That is a true injury. An act that damages or hurts.

If this was "caused in the uterus" and you had an ultrasound close to your due date then if there "supposidly" was a problem, shouldnt the doctor give you a c-section? It goes both ways. They tried this with me. My husband pushed me once after my son was born, and I told a doctor just to let him know that it was not okay. Well, they are saying, how do we know he didnt push you during pregnancy and how do we know he didnt cause you sons injury? Clearly she did and I think the doctors attorneys are full of ####***!