United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hello..I found this site after a lot of searching for people that have had a similar experience.

My story..

On March 9, 2008 I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. His right shoulder got stuck at my pelvic bone. His head came out and she told me to push one more time and nothing happened. My husband witnessed her pulling hard on his head and he was turning blue. They moved my husband out of the way and a nurse assisted my OB. When my son came out he was bluish purple and did not cry. They gave him oxygen and he regained his color and began crying. Thats when we noticed his left arm was not moving at all. My OB said he could just be in shock and that he would gain movement in a few hours. They did an x-ray to rule out any broken bones and found out he had a broken clavicle. When his pediatrician came to access his situation the following morning she told me she believed he suffered a brachial plexus injury. I had never heard of this before, like many of you. They pinned his sleeve to his chest for the broken clavicle (collar bone) and suggested that we see a specialist. We stayed in the hospital for 2 days and when I went home I immediately began to research the injury and found a brachial plexus clinic here. They got him in within 2 days and we began physical therapy. We perform physical therapy at every diaper change and last week our specialist said he will need to have surgery at the end of this month for him to gain more movement in his arm. He currently has some movement but his wrist is pronated and his fingers clinched. He also can not bend his elbow. He can lift his arm out, but not in. I am grateful that things are not worse, but that does not take the sting away from this either. We didn't want to contact a lawyer at first, but since he will need the surgery and physical therapy for a long time we think it would be beneficial. We found out that the specialist is an out of network provider and that our deductible is 3000.00 and then we pay 50% of the costs after that. We can not afford this, but we also can not put a price on his care. Can anyone give us any advice on seeking a lawyer and I would love to hear about your legal experiences with this too.

Welcome to the board! I think you'll find that this is a great place for information and support. I'm really sorry to hear about your son, but the good news is that you found out information early on and are being so proactive. You should seek the advice of a specialist and get into therapy immediately. Early intervention seems to be the key in the beginning. Speaking of early intervention, most states have an early intervention program that will provide no cost therapy to child that are not yet school age. I would definitely check into that for your baby.

My son is 11 months old. We have an attorney and are trying to settle out of court right now but will prob. be filing suit soon. I'm an attorney myself but am not handling my own case because it's such a specialized area of the law. Find an attorney that has medical malpractice experience and more specifically BPI experience. You should not have to pay anything upfront as they will get their money from whatever you recover for your son. I understand not wanting to be involved legally, I didn't want to either but sometimes there are things you are forced to do for the benefit of your child. You can e-mail me if you'd like, brookepoague@yahoo.com

Am so sorry for your son, i had the same this with my son on 21 February 2008. My advice is wait a little. He might not need a surgery, it way too early to tell. If he doesnt have evulsion he might not need one. Sometimes it takes up to 6month for bicept to recover.

I wish him quick recovery and he will be in my prayers. I really understand how it feels. This forum is great and am so glad am in it because I have also learned that even people with BPI can lead normal life.

Take care and remember healing takes time and every child heal different at different times.

love, P.

I quit my job so that we could get state medical care. I know that is not feesable for most, but for us it works great, I am available 24/7 for his therapy and emotional needs, as well as not having to take vacation time to go to doctor appointments. We have also applied for SSI, however we have not heard back yet because the injury has not lasted for over a year yet. It will be a year on the 31st so wish us luck on getting our SSI!

Dear Momaof2,
WELCOME to our UBPN Family.
FYI, Shriner's Hospitals treat and follow children until age 20 FREE of Charge. Your Profile doesn't say where you live, look up Shriner's Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. They have BPI Specialists there and also help with transportation costs as well as housing families at Ronald McDonald's House with shuttle services.
All contact information is on our Resources link on our Homepage,or, you can type Shriner's Hospitals in thre Search Forum Box at the top of this page and all the threads will come up for you.

I am glad you found this supportive network.
Carolyn J
Adult LOBPI/69+++

My son was injured later in life so I don't have a lot of input on the infant part of this. However I did want to mention that with our insurance there was not a BPI specialist either. With a letter of neccessity from our dr and referals to Mayo our insurance does cover his treatments at our regular costs. So you may want to check into this, they call it a "Gap" coverage. Also, Shriners hospitals are free for minors. The one in Philly I believe has a BPI specialist. Just wanted to mention these as I hope cost will not be the determining factor when procedures may become neccessary.

Also, You have come to the right place for support, knowledge and answeres. There is a world of knowledge here, more than most of the medical professionals have so ask any questions you have. Many have experienced what you are facing and can give you peace of mind. You have done the right thing in finding help early.

Sue

I wanted to add one more thing... If you need help with flights to and from, Angel Flight is awesome!! They will hook you up with a pilot *with a personal plane* and they will fly the patient and two family members to accompany them.
try this link
http://aircharitynetwork.org/
they do not limit the number of times you can fly with them and we have had GREAT luck with them!!! ITS WONDERFUL!

With SOOO much background information I didn't provide it all when I posted my first message. I live in St. Louis and we currently see a Brachial Plexus Palsy Specialist at the Brachial Plexus Clinic here. We feel so blessed to have a place right here to go to. Because of the severity of his injury the specialist has recommended surgery when he turns 3 months. We have been seeing the specialist, physical therapist, and occupational therapist since he was 4 days old. My son's wrist is completely pronated and he is not able to flex his fingers at all, bend his elbow, or make a few other movements. He does have shoulder movement. I haven't seen any pictures of other babies with their wrist pronated. I have heard a lot abou tthe "waiters tip" position. We splint his wrist every evening along with the physical therapy at every diaper change. The specialist believes that several nerves are torn. We have another appointment with him tomorrow and then he will schedule the surgery. It is a nerve graft surgery and it is important to do this surgery early on in severe cases for the best outcome. We are staying very prayerful! I am very glad I found this site and I am definitely reaching out to other moms that are dealing with the same thing. Like I said in a previous email, it could definitely be worse, it is kind of upsetting knowing this could have been prevented.

I am currently a stay at home mom also..We have applied for medicaid and have gotten approved for my son. Medicaid will cover all the costs, however this has also taken approx 150.00 per week of income out of our household because my husband is no longer able to work overtime or medicaid will be cut. I am going to check into that "gap" coverage that another member suggested. Has anyone's infant here undergone surgery at 3-4 months of age for the BPI?

My daughter Is 8 months old and just had surgery in march. She also was scheduled for the nerve graft surgey but the damage was too severe so they had to do a 3 part surgery. She has already had the 1st part and she is recovering well! The next two are going to be scheduled closer to her first birthday. This is very hard for me, as it has to be for all of you. I feel alot better after talking to other people about it and having some sort of realistic hope, unlike the hope many of us were given by the doctor when our children were born. I hope all goes well with your sons surgery! I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers!