Can an Erb’s Palsy Birth Injury Be Treated?

Erb’s palsy birth injury affects one or two out of every 1,000 infants born. The condition is caused by a physical injury during delivery and its symptoms range from mild to serious based on the gravity of the injury.

If your child has been diagnosed with an Erb’s palsy birth injury, contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney right away. He or she will help you determine whether your child’s birth injury was the result of medical negligence and whether you could win damages in a medical malpractice case.

Is an Erb’s palsy birth injury diagnosis permanent?

In severe cases an Erb’s palsy diagnosis may lead to lifelong problems like permanent functional loss and abnormal muscle contractions. Mild cases, however, can clear up with treatment. Thankfully, about 70 to 80 percent of all Erb’s palsy injuries are healed within a year with proper and consistent treatment. The younger the infant is when treatment begins the better the chances of recovery. Parents should look for signs of improvement such as the infant making a fist or successfully gripping an object.

Erb’s palsy treatment options

In most cases, infants with Erb’s palsy are best treated after a referral to a treatment center that provides multidisciplinary specialties. These types of treatment centers have a large team of specialists like neurologists, neurosurgeons, physical therapists, occupational therapists and orthopedic surgeons who can handle a range of complicated conditions.

If your infant cannot access a multidisciplinary treatment center, you should seek the services of a pediatric neurologist.

Erb’s palsy treatment options include:

Non-surgical treatments

• Physical therapy may be an effective form of treatment when nerve injuries to the brachial plexus are mild. The therapy may include gentle massages around the affected arm and the use of techniques such as range of motion exercises to improve arm strength, flexibility and nerve function.
• In some cases, Botox injections into the affected area and the application of electrical stimulation may be useful to healing the injury.

Note: If neurological function doesn’t return by six to eight weeks after therapy or other forms of treatment is implemented, your physician may recommend surgery.

Surgical options

If your child’s physician recommends surgery, it should typically be done within the first three to six months after birth, unless your baby’s doctor recommends otherwise. Studies have found that postponing surgery until the baby is older may reduce the operation’s success rate.

• Microsurgical techniques are typically ideally performed at around three months of age.
• Surgery with the goal of restoring partial arm function to treat avulsion-type injuries is typically ideally be performed when the infant is around six months of age.
• Exploratory surgery may also be performed during this timeframe. It involves removing scar tissue from neuromas in order to repair the affected nerve then grafting with the transplant of a nerve from another part of the body to repair nerve ruptures.

The Seattle personal injury attorneys at Morrow Kidman Tinker Macey-Cushman, PLLC have years of experience representing families harmed by medical malpractice, birth injuries and other personal injuries. We seek justice for patients who have been harmed by preventable medical errors including wrongful death, catastrophic injuries and traumatic brain injuries in Seattle and across Washington State. There are no fees or expenses to file a personal injury case as we only receive payment if we recover damages on your behalf. Do not delay; personal injury claims come with a statute of limitations, which means they must be filed within a certain time frame of the injury.

Call us now at (206) 752-4366 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation with one of our compassionate, experienced Seattle injury lawyers. We are ready to fight for you.