Fetal Monitoring during labor is commonly performed in all hospitals and is in part used to detect hypoxia during labor that could cause your baby to suffer a brain injury. If your infant suffers a reduced oxygen supply to the brain (cerebral hypoxia) or complete oxygen deprivation (cerebral anoxia) a hypoxic/anoxic brain injury could be the tragic result.

Because of these dangers it is imperative that both mom and baby are continually monitored during active labor. If continuous and proper monitoring is not performed and your baby is injured, you may have a medical negligence case.

When there is birth malpractice and your baby has a brain injury the fetal monitoring strips become vital evidence. They can help your attorney pinpoint when your baby went into distress and establish what steps the nurse or doctor responsible for your baby’s care should have taken to address the problem.

Here is an example of how we can use the fetal monitoring strips to show an insurance company or a jury what went wrong. This is from a fetal heart monitor animation used by another lawyer in a case involving a prolapsed umbilical cord –

Here is a video that will orient you to the basics of fetal heart monitoring (the presenter calls it fetal heart tracings, which is the same thing) –