Whether because of busy schedules or mothers’ impatience with pregnancy’s discomforts, doctors have in recent years commonly induced child labor early, believing that 37 weeks was full-term. In fact, “early term” labor inductions account for 25 percent of births today, up from less than 10 percent in 1990.
There’s mounting evidence, though, that a full term is indeed 39 weeks, and that inducing labor even a few days before that is inadvisable. A study that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009 found that delivering a baby even in the last three or four days of the 38th week increased the risk of complications such as respiratory distress, seizures, and bloodstream infections. According to the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, infants delivered at 37 to 38 weeks face issues with brain development and function, including psychological, behavioral, and emotional problems.
If you believe that you or your child have been harmed by an ill-advised early term labor induction, contact Hodes Milman for a free case evaluation. We’re aggressive personal injury and medical malpractice lawyers based in Orange County, serving all of California. We have the experience to take on the medical industry and have achieved multi-million dollar verdicts for our clients.
