Updated
Understanding what the words on the discharge summary mean.
A birth injury is any harm to a baby that happens around the time of birth. Some are mild and resolve on their own; some are serious and lifelong. This section explains the conditions families hear about most, from primary medical sources, without telling you what caused your child's.
Before you read any guide
A diagnosis describes what happened to your child's body. It does not say why, and it does not say whether anyone could have prevented it. Several of the conditions below have more than one possible cause, and the clinical bodies we cite call for a broad look at everything that may have contributed before a cause is named.
What is in this section
Guides on hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and neonatal encephalopathy, cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injury including Erb's palsy, and shoulder dystocia. Each guide explains the condition, what is known about its causes and risk factors, how it is usually diagnosed and treated, what is uncertain, and, separately and carefully, what a legal review would look at if a family chose to ask for one.
Where the guides stand
Every guide in this section is held for clinical review before it is published. Until that review is complete, a guide is a sourced draft and is not shown to search engines. This page will list each guide as it is approved. Our editorial standards explain the process.
In the meantime
The primary sources we build from are public and free. For an overview of cerebral palsy, start with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. For HIE, the same institute's HIE page. For brachial plexus injury in newborns, MedlinePlus.