What Is Fetal Bradycardia In Labor and Delivery?

There are specific heart rate ranges that are indicators of an unborn baby’s health status. Most experts agree that the normal fetal heart rate range is 110-160 beats per minute. Anything over that is considered to be a fast heart rate, while anything below 110 beats per minute is considered to be a slow heart rate. Heart rates that are too fast or too slow in unborn babies can be dangerous.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll take a look at low fetal heart rates during childbirth. The medical term for a low heart rate is bradycardia. This condition in unborn babies can have long-lasting effects if it isn’t diagnosed and treated right away.

What Does It Mean When A Baby’s Heart Rate Is Low?

Bradycardia during labor and delivery can cause serious medical conditions to arise for the baby, even resulting in stillbirth in some cases. That’s why it is important that doctors and nurses monitor the baby’s heart rate closely. Fetal monitoring ensures that the baby is getting enough oxygen and it reduces the chances that there will be neonatal complications due to insufficient oxygen. Monitoring the fetal heart rate allows doctors to take action quickly should there be irregularities.

If a baby’s heart rate is low, there isn’t proper monitoring, and as a result the baby suffers injuries, it may be considered medical malpractice. In that case, parents may be able to recover financial compensation for the damages.

What Are The Common Causes of Fetal Bradycardia?

Fetal bradycardia can be caused by a number of different conditions or situations. One of the most common is medication given to the mother. There are some narcotics that cause a baby’s heart rate to slow when they are administered to the mother. It can also be caused by medication that is used to induce labor like Pitocin and Cytotec, as well as the medication that is used in epidurals.

Some of the other common causes of bradycardia include:

• Placental abruption – this is when the placenta becomes separated from the wall of the uterus
• Uterine rupture – this occurs when there is a tear in the uterine wall, typically at the site of a previous C-section
• Umbilical cord problems – this includes situations in which the umbilical cord is compressed, when it is wrapped around the baby’s neck, and when it preceded the baby through the birth canal
• Polyhydramnios – this is when there is too much amniotic fluid
• Oligohydramnios – this is when there is too little amniotic fluid
• Uteroplacental insufficiency – this occurs when there is an insufficient amount of blood flowing to the placenta
• Baby’s size – this occurs when the baby’s head is too large to fit through the mother’s pelvis or when the baby’s weight exceeds nine pounds
• Breech position – this occurs when the baby isn’t in a head-down position, instead it is in a foot-first or buttocks-first position

How Is Bradycardia Treated?

When bradycardia is detected during pregnancy, there are some treatments that can be administered to help increase the baby’s heart rate. The mother may be given certain types of medication to help resolve the problem. However, when bradycardia occurs during labor and delivery, the typical solution is an emergency C-section.

How do doctors recognize when a low heart rate emergency exists? It’s only through proper monitoring that medical professionals will know that a baby is in distress. Usually, bradycardia that lasts more than one minute is of some concern. However, when it last five to ten minutes, it is at the least a major concern, at the most a medical emergency. Doctors should absolutely take action and decide quickly what that action should be. If they delay, or fail to recognize the bradycardia, it may be considered negligence on their part, and may result in a birth injury lawsuit.

What Can Bradycardia Lead To For Newborns?

When an unborn baby’s heart rate isn’t monitored or when there is a delay in response to it, there can be significant, long-term effects including:

• Brain damage
• Nerve damage
• Anoxia or hypoxia (complete or partial deprivation of oxygen)
• Cerebral Palsy
• Paralysis
• Stillbirth

These are serious conditions that may be the fault of a healthcare provider’s negligence. Some of the ways that negligence related to fetal heart rate occur include:

• Failure to perform monitoring continuously when needed
• Failure to identify any abnormality
• Improper installation of the monitoring device
• Misreading the heart rates of the baby or mother
• A delay or failure to take action when there is fetal distress

Contact Ross Feller Casey For Your Birth Injury Case

If your child suffered bradycardia during childbirth and sustained injuries as a result, you should contact a medical malpractice attorney that is experienced handling birth injury cases. A birth injury lawyer will be able to determine whether your child’s condition is a result of medical negligence or error, and if you could be entitled to compensation to ease the financial and emotional burden of the malpractice.

At Ross Feller Casey, we have experienced and successful birth injury attorneys, as well as a team of doctors on-staff to help you with your case. We have an unmatched record of winning serious birth injury lawsuits and have helped many families who have experienced bradycardia during labor that was a result of negligence. Contact our office today to schedule your free case review with one of our birth injury lawyers. We handle all of our medical malpractice cases on a contingency basis, which means there is no cost to you until we obtain a financial recovery for your family.