To many people, the term birth injury is synonymous with a catastrophic injury to a newborn child. Many people think of cerebral palsy, for example, and how it will impact a child and their parents for life.
However, mothers in labor can also suffer significant birth injuries that can have lasting consequences. Blood loss can cause health issues, while uterine rupture might lead to permanent infertility. There is another berth injury that many women write off as a side effect of labor and delivery.
Bathroom issues are common after birth
Urinary incontinence is a common issue for new mothers shortly after the birth of a child, but it typically goes away in the weeks after birth. Adequate rest and even performing exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles can speed up the recovery process. Some women will find that they have persistent, low-grade bladder leaks permanently.
For some women, urinary incontinence will remain a permanent issue after their birth because of a doctor’s mistake. Others will struggle with much more significant incontinence issues, possibly involving fecal incontinence in specific scenarios, such as bowel perforation during medical care.
When are doctors to blame?
Both the failure to take adequate steps to facilitate a birth and aggressive, improper intervention can increase a woman’s risk of post-delivery incontinence. Forceps deliveries and other interventions can cause incontinence.
A woman’s body has evolved to manage the complex tasks associated with childbirth as safely as possible. Her organs soften to accommodate the growing child, and even the chemical balance within her body will shift throughout the pregnancy.
Unfortunately, if things don’t go quickly enough or if complications arise during delivery, doctors may engage in drastic interventions that do as much harm as good. Forceps deliveries, in particular, have an association with injury to the mother during delivery and an association with incontinence. Mistakes during C-sections or an improperly performed episiotomy could also cause damage to the digestive system with lasting consequences for a mother.
Determining that your symptoms are permanent and that they are the results of a doctor’s actions may give you ground to seek compensation for a birth injury that another professional could have prevented.
