Erb’s Palsy is a brachial plexus disorder. What does that mean? The brachial plexus is a cluster of nerves where the neck meets the shoulder, on each side. They travel from the spinal cord, between the vertebrae, through each armpit and down into each arm and provide almost the entire arm and hand with movement ability and skin sensation.
When a baby has Erb’s Palsy, the most frequent indication is lack of movement in one arm. The arm will be straight down at the baby’s side and sometimes it will be a little turned, with the wrist bent and the fingers straight. There may also be a droopy eyelid on the same side if the injury is more severe.
Birth injury
The brachial plexus is sometimes injured during a difficult birth, such as:
· When the baby is in a breech presentation
· When the baby is particularly large
· When labor goes on a long time
· When forceps must be used to help the baby emerge from the birth canal
The injuries are a stretching or tearing of the brachial plexus nerves. The resulting arm disability is usually on one side only, as the baby’s neck is stretched while one shoulder is caught against the mother’s pelvic bone, so only one brachial plexus is damaged rather than both.
Some birth injuries are avoidable with attentive and responsible medical care. If your baby has Erb’s Palsy, you might benefit from some legal assistance in discovering whether or not that injury could have been avoided. Were the forceps used too vigorously? Should a caesarian section have been performed? Could the labor have been shortened? Were attending medical personnel negligent in any way? Obtaining answers to this type of question can take some time, so don’t delay in contacting a personal injury attorney.
Two groups of nerves
The nerves that come together in the brachial plexus belong to two groups: those traveling to the arm, and those traveling to the hand and fingers. The nerves to the arm originate higher on the spinal cord, so they exit between vertebrae higher up, whereas the nerves to the hand and fingers originate slightly lower on the spinal cord and exit lower, just above the chest.
Because there are these two groups of nerves which are separate before they join in the brachial plexus, two types of damage can be sustained:
Erb’s Palsy – where the upper nerves are damaged, those traveling to the arm Global Palsy – where both groups of nerves are damaged; this is more severe
Types of injury
There are four types of nerve injury, with different resulting disabilities:
1. Stretching – The nerve is damaged but not torn, and this is the mildest scenario, usually healing up by itself within about three months
2. Avulsion – The nerve is torn from the spinal cord, and this is the most severe scenario, requiring treatment
3. Rupture – The nerve is torn, but not from the spinal cord
4. Neuroma – The nerve is injured by pressure from scar tissue which forms after the original injury
When a nerve is injured, regardless of how that happened, the result is numbness and loss of movement.
Treatment
Since stretching is the most common type of brachial nerve injury, and this heals by itself within a few months, no treatment is needed in most cases of Erb’s Palsy.
But if no improvement is evident after three months, surgery may be performed, and a splint worn afterwards for about three weeks. This will not immediately solve the problem, because growing at the approximate rate of an inch per month, it will be a while before nerves that are repaired at neck level reach the hand and lower arm muscles.
If the child is older and can follow instructions, a tendon transfer may be done, which moves the tendon attachment. Tendons are the connective tissue connecting muscles to bones. This can help the child with shoulder and wrist movements and hand grip. A cast will have to be worn for about six weeks, and at night, a splint will be worn for about six months. Physical therapy will also be part of this follow-up.
When your baby has been injured, it’s painful and baffling for the parents, and it can be hard to know where to turn for help. The thing you need for practical help and support is legal advice, legal representation, and all the paperwork done for you.
For more information on Erb’s Palsy and other birth injuries, click here to contact a personal injury attorney.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tara_Pingle
Friday, July 13, 2007
Managed Care Companies - Are Your Loved-Ones Safe in Their Hands?
What are managed care companies?
A managed care company refers to any arrangement for health care in which an organization, such as a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), another type of doctor-hospital network, or an insurance company, acts an intermediary between the person seeking care and the physician.
Why we have managed care companies
From the middle 1980s to the present, health care costs have continued to rise at a great pace. The health care industry was unable to maintain manageable medical care costs. This led to the creation of managed care, in which third-party payers try to limit costs by managing your access to health care.
Methods of cost control
Some of the cost-management tactics are:
· Doctors prescribing only certain “approved” drugs · Limiting the length of “approved” hospital stays · Preauthorizing hospitalization or surgery · Visiting your “primary care physician” before being referred to a specialist · These are requirements and if you don’t’ follow them, your costs may be covered only partially, by your health insurance company, or not at all.
Are these cost-controlling measures beneficial?
Good things to come from these measures include improved parking at managed care facilities; better tasting hospital food; using business practices and information technology in the health care setting; and moving medical procedures and treatments to less costly facilities when possible.
Are there disadvantages to cost-controlling measures which might compromise the safety of my loved ones?
Many people feel that the severe weaknesses inherent in managed care outweigh the potential benefits.
There is a serious trust issue concerning doctors who either work for the third party organization or are motivated by insurance reimbursements. How can these doctors provide the high quality of health care you deserve when they are restricted by managed care rules or lower reimbursements from insurance companies for certain treatments? Even though these doctors are somewhat in the middle, the losers in these situations are the health care patients themselves, or your loved ones.
Examples of cost-controlling measures that end up reducing the quality of treatment:
· Making physicians choose lower-cost, shorter treatment methods (remember cheaper doesn’t always mean better)· You or your loved one’s privacy being put at risk by relaying information between your health care provider and the managed care company· Health care plans prescribing anxiety medications as an alternative to paying for psychotherapy· Suicidal patients who have nowhere else to go because they have finished their allowance of therapy sessions
As you can see, sometimes managed care companies will offer you or your loved ones reduced-cost care instead of quality health care. If you or a loved one has received what you feel is unsafe care in the hands of managed care companies, contact us and we will connect you with one of our experienced managed care lawyers today.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tara_Pingle
A managed care company refers to any arrangement for health care in which an organization, such as a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), another type of doctor-hospital network, or an insurance company, acts an intermediary between the person seeking care and the physician.
Why we have managed care companies
From the middle 1980s to the present, health care costs have continued to rise at a great pace. The health care industry was unable to maintain manageable medical care costs. This led to the creation of managed care, in which third-party payers try to limit costs by managing your access to health care.
Methods of cost control
Some of the cost-management tactics are:
· Doctors prescribing only certain “approved” drugs · Limiting the length of “approved” hospital stays · Preauthorizing hospitalization or surgery · Visiting your “primary care physician” before being referred to a specialist · These are requirements and if you don’t’ follow them, your costs may be covered only partially, by your health insurance company, or not at all.
Are these cost-controlling measures beneficial?
Good things to come from these measures include improved parking at managed care facilities; better tasting hospital food; using business practices and information technology in the health care setting; and moving medical procedures and treatments to less costly facilities when possible.
Are there disadvantages to cost-controlling measures which might compromise the safety of my loved ones?
Many people feel that the severe weaknesses inherent in managed care outweigh the potential benefits.
There is a serious trust issue concerning doctors who either work for the third party organization or are motivated by insurance reimbursements. How can these doctors provide the high quality of health care you deserve when they are restricted by managed care rules or lower reimbursements from insurance companies for certain treatments? Even though these doctors are somewhat in the middle, the losers in these situations are the health care patients themselves, or your loved ones.
Examples of cost-controlling measures that end up reducing the quality of treatment:
· Making physicians choose lower-cost, shorter treatment methods (remember cheaper doesn’t always mean better)· You or your loved one’s privacy being put at risk by relaying information between your health care provider and the managed care company· Health care plans prescribing anxiety medications as an alternative to paying for psychotherapy· Suicidal patients who have nowhere else to go because they have finished their allowance of therapy sessions
As you can see, sometimes managed care companies will offer you or your loved ones reduced-cost care instead of quality health care. If you or a loved one has received what you feel is unsafe care in the hands of managed care companies, contact us and we will connect you with one of our experienced managed care lawyers today.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tara_Pingle
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