If a member of your family suffers from Erbs palsy and it was caused during birth by negligent mismanagement of the attending medical consultants, there could be a potential claim for compensation.

What is Erbs Palsy?

Erbs palsy is a birth injury affecting the nerves that control the muscles in the shoulder and arm and it can be visible immediately after birth as a baby suffering from the condition usually holds the arm at its side turned to the body with the elbow turned outwards from the body and the arm does not move or react to stimulus as one would expect.

The injury is to the group of nerves that cross the shoulder from the spinal column and then run down the arms into the hands and fingers, otherwise known as the brachial plexus nerves. These nerves control the movement of the arm and shoulder and injury to it can cause serious long term problems. It is usually caused by the use of excessive force during delivery.

What can cause Erbs Palsy?

The condition is thankfully relatively rare affecting less than 1% of babies but there are some recognised risk factors that an experienced clinician would be expected to recognise and guard against the possibility that the condition might be established. These include:

• diabetes in the mother
• unusually large baby,
• excessive force used during delivery causing damage to the brachial plexus nerves
• failure to recognise and handle shoulder dystocia which is where the child’s shoulder gets lodged behind the front of the mothers pelvis resulting in delayed delivery. The complications can be severe but there are well established procedures ranging from the lesser invasive like applying pressure to the mothers abdomen to put pressure on the shoulder to dislodge it to the very invasive which can involve breaking the baby’s clavicle and emergency caesarean, which any experienced clinician or midwife should be aware of.

Surgery is sometimes possible to alleviate the problems caused but unfortunately in some, the condition is permanent.

Time Limits

A claim can be made at any stage up to the child’s 21st birthday but obviously the chances of success are going to be greater the nearer to the birth as documentation is much easier to trace.

Making a Erbs Palsy Compensation Claim

Compensation for an Erbs Palsy injury and the lifetime costs can be considerable depending on the extent of the injury and the effects it will have. You should therefore ensure that you have a specialist solicitor acting on your behalf.