I was in a Florida car accident while I was pregnant. Could my baby be injured?

People are often scared and shaken after a car accident, but pregnant women have extra cause for concern. Whether you are just a few weeks along or into your third trimester, any trauma to the stomach or spine could affect the fetus’s development. Many pregnant women in Florida car wrecks have been uninjured after the accident and have assumed the baby was uninjured, also. They believed they were lucky, only to find out the extent of the damage weeks later.

Even if you are wearing a seatbelt and the airbag was not deployed, a Palm Beach Gardens car accident can have serious consequences for the health of your infant. For example:

• Placental abruption. This is when the placenta disconnects from the wall of the uterus.
• Early labor. The shock of the accident can begin contractions, possibly leading to a premature birth and resulting in low birth weight of the infant.
• Caesarean section. If birth complications arise from the accident, or the baby is in distress, a doctor may have to perform an emergency C-section for the baby’s survival.
• Hemorrhages. If the mother received a blow to the abdomen, there could be both external and internal bleeding-in the worst cases, resulting in a miscarriage.
• Birth defects. If the accident was particularly serious, or if the baby’s brain was deprived of oxygen for any length of time, the baby could be the victim of a serious brain injury.

Even if you have no symptoms that your child was injured, the emotional distress after the accident can bring on pre-term labor and have consequences in the health of the infant. Signs that your baby may have been affected by the crash include:

• Fainting or dizziness
• Vaginal bleeding or other discharge
• Abdominal pain
• Swelling in the face and hands
• Persistent headaches
• Vomiting unrelated to morning sickness
• Painful urination
• Unexplained fever
• Change in the frequency of the fetus’s movements

After an accident, your doctor should assess the risks to your pregnancy carefully, including ordering blood tests and examination with a fetal monitor to make sure the baby is staying in place. If you require x-rays, care should be taken to shield your abdomen from radiation. If you require any pain medication, your doctor should choose your prescription carefully, as some medications pose a greater threat to the fetus. If he did not perform these actions, your physician may be guilty of negligence.

If you experienced any emotional or physical suffering after an accident, the advice of a Palm Beach Gardens car accident lawyer can be invaluable to the health of your family. Call Fetterman & Associates today at (866)-865-1244