A British mother was shocked by doctors' accusations that she caused her son's birth injury because she failed to push during his delivery. The mother, who delivered at the Portsmouth Hospitals, arrived at the hospital two weeks overdue. She stayed there for a day with a difficult labor and had been pushing for over two hours in extreme pain before a consultant arrived to assist with the delivery. The mother said she was exhausted and could not obey staff orders to push by that point.

The consultant eventually decided to deliver the baby using a suction cup method, but the baby was born unresponsive and had to be resuscitated. He developed seizures and was unable to suck or be bottle fed.

The child, now thirteen years old, has cerebral palsy because of the birth injury. He is able to walk short distances, but must use a wheelchair much of the time. He must have help eating solid foods, and has other complications associated with cerebral palsy, including weakness on his right side. According to court filings, the child suffered acute asphyxia about 15 to 25 minutes before he was born - a cause of cerebral palsy. The mother's suit alleges that had the child been delivered minutes earlier, he would have been unharmed.

Cerebral palsy is actually caused by abnormalities in the brain that affect the use and coordination of muscles, according to the National Institute of Neurological Conditions and Stroke. Asphyxia during birth is one birth injury that can cause cerebral palsy because it damages parts of the brain that control muscle movement.

If delivery is delayed, a baby can become asphyxiated in the birth canal. According to the University of San Francisco-California, Benioff Children's Hospital, birth asphyxia is also more common in mothers that deliver beyond 42 weeks because of reduced placenta function giving the fetus a decreased oxygen supply.

The British courts must now evaluate the child's birth injury claims.

Source: Mail Online, "Mother's fury after NHS bosses 'blame son's cerebral palsy on her not pushing when she gave birth'", 1/27/11