I think my sons Autism was caused by lack of oxygen at birth

[WhatAMum01]

My son is 5 and severely autistic and mentally disabled.when hexwas being born his heart rate slowed down and there was panic on the midwifes face ,she was flapping and only person delivering.it was an induced labour and they thought I might need a csection but he ended up coming out but it was prolonged.he screamed every day as a baby and rarely slept, I tried everything thinking it was reflux ,hes continued with the awful sleep and lives a incapacitated life. Life is very difficult for our family.im wondering would it be worthy to see a negligence lawyer as it's the way he will be for his whole life and I worry about him when I'll be gone and no longer able to care for him.we are barely getting by just now.have I left it too late ,is it even possible. Please be kind,I'm not looking for some crazy payday,just seeing if theres anything that could be done for him due to what i believe was delayed care.anybody been in this situation?thanks for reading.

I have a son with high-functioning autism/Asperger's syndrome. His father was diagnosed with the same condition. Also, I know someone who has a DS with a partial deletion on one of his chromosomes (can't remember which one) which causes autistic-like behaviour.

Before going down the legal route it might be worth having his chromosomes checked to ensure that all is as it should be.

@Lagatha has given some very good advice about discussion with midwife you do not have to say why you want notes you can just request them - check hospital records link at hospital

My dd had oxygen deprivation issues at birth. She went into intensive care in neonatal unit for a week, hospital also ran a gas analysis to establish the length and severity of the oxygen deprivation. She was so unwell when she was born they actually thought she had died at first.
Despite this she had no long lasting impact from her birth experience.
Getting your records and getting a medical debrief both sound like excellent ideas but I would not assume the answers lie in the birthing experience.

Check if you have legal cover with your home insurance, it may cover medical negligence. Personally I would go straight to a lawyer rather than trying to investigate yourself. It is not unreasonable to pursue a legal case. The fact you recall the midwife's panic shows something probably did go wrong and seeking compensation for your son's care needs is reasonable under the circumstances.

Did your baby have oxygen deprivation though or are you just assuming that might’ve happened because of what the midwife said during the delivery?

Phone a no win no fee lawyer about medical negligence. They will give you an idea whether you have a case.

I’m not sure you will find much in the notes. I had an awful delivery, I had told the midwife all along my pregnancy that there would be problems at the birth (it runs in the family, my mother, aunts, sisters and cousins on my mum side all had it), she and the midwives in the hospital kept dismissing me until the problem presented at birth.

There is nothing in my records about the concerns I had, not even about a complaint I made, for which I had a reply. I had kept a record of the problems I had throughout the pregnancy, that my midwife was aware of, they were MY notes but she said she needed to check them and refused to give them back. She just walked out of the house with them a week after the delivery and never returned them. I was so upset and tired with all that happened I didn’t have the energy to complain.

If I were you, I would pay for the scan. It would save you a lot of heartache and money to check if what has been diagnosed as autism is actually brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation before you embark on a battle with the hospital.

Now, the big question is how do you get a referral for a scan, as they are very expensive and not authorised unless there is a very strong and urgent justification for them.

@Perunatop many medical negligence cases are assessed no win no fee although this will not include the cost of Medical Expert assessment of your case or seeing the barrister - they will assess from the records the percentage of chance that the cause of your dc disability was misadventure or negligence at birth. What you have to understand is what happened may not be negligence but a sad & rare circumstance of a difficult birth. Did your dc spend any time in incubator? or special care unit?

My heart goes out to you. Irwin Mitchell solicitors specialise in these sorts of cases please speak to them.

how long was your labour (true labour not preamble when they tried to start you) how long was second stage when you were delivering?

I am very sorry for all you have experienced. However, autism cannot be caused by birth trauma. Some social communication difficulties can be linked to trauma, but actual autism is not.

It needs to be more than things not going well, it has to be that they did things no professional would reasonably have done. Slightly poor judgement is not enough for medical negligence. As far as time: I am pretty sure you would have timed out by now as I think the time limit is 3 year, however your son has 3 years from when he becomes an adult so until he is 21. (Please check this - don’t rely on me)

As previous posters- Assuming the autism diagnosis is correct, it seems you are trying to find an explanation for it beyond the reality that life can deal some shitty blows. My daughter was lucky, severe hypoxia/acidosis during delivery, crash caesarean, massive haemorrhage, shoved under General anaesthesia in delivery room but we both came out seemingly unscathed. I think about it a lot 6 years later. We both nearly died and I sometimes stare at her just thinking how life can spin in a flash. In fact I often think I won’t get anymore lucky breaks in life as that was my one big one and I’m so grateful for that. What I’m trying to say is that I get how these things stay with you, and how you might be trying to link them together, but from outside it sounds unrelated and might set you up for more heartache. I would start with getting your dc diagnosis confirmed- is it autism or hypoxic brain injury. If hypoxia excluded on imaging, then move on and don’t go near the solicitors. Good luck

My son's cerebral palsy was due to hypoxia after birth in the NICU due to medical malpractice. He was preemie and doctor's were on alert for the CP.

My dd didn't have CP but it took a while before the Dr's would give us a definite all clear.
It was an extremely stressful period.
Your dc doesn't have a CP diagnosis though does he OP?

My DS had a very similar deliver (( his shoulders got stuck )) he was taken away so they could get him going. Then struggled with maintaining his temperature.......nothing major. But enough to stick in my mind. He was also born in a hospital that's famous for all the wrong reasons sadly.......like your son he's diagnosed as being profoundly Autistic. I'd always had my suspicions which were confirmed a few years ago when an optician casually mentioned the brain damage (( damage at the back of his eyes )) I've decided to let sleeping dogs lie in my case but I don't blame anyone for wanting things looked at.

A lot of people don't realise that brain trauma and autism symptoms often go hand in hand. My friend's son has severe CP due to birth trauma (( born in the same hospital as my DS )) mentally he's around 12 months despite being 18. He can walk but is none verbal and cannot communicate. Autism is on his list of diagnosis when the reality is (( he has none of the classic identifiers )) the behaviours he does have are probably from frustration. He cannot entertain himself doo resorts to self soothing / harming hence the diagnosis.

My youngest brother was born with the cord wrapped tightly around his neck and has had mild learning disabilities all his life.

My brother had a very similar birth, problems with a normal delivery leading to an emergency caesarian. This was in 1957.
However, what really got things moving towards the caesarian, was that his heart kept stopping.
In your case did your son's heart stop? Was it mentioned? Did a monitor make strange noises?
My brother suffered brain damage which was not serious enough to prevent him leading a nearly normal life, but he has never completely recovered. My mother was a doctor by the way, so it can happen to anyone.

Do you remember what his apgar scores were at birth? They give an initial idea of whether he was alert and had muscle tone at birth and five minutes after. It’s a quick but useful test if the baby needs additional care or monitoring.

No worries if not, it should be recorded in the notes along with information about his breathing and colour. It maybe a useful starting point.

By coincidence I watched this Youtube video today: One of the twins had breathing problems at birth and they're now fighting for an official autism diagnosis.

Unfortunately everything in forums is going to be anecdotal evidence. I had an umbilical cord accident at birth and was also oxygen deprived for quite some time. The doctors suspected CP for the first few weeks but I developed normally after that.

It is hard to tell, my DS arrived like a dream on gas and air, totally euphoric quick painless labour.
He cried for the moment he was born, he kept everyone awake on the ward he cried solid until he learnt to talk, then he shouted demanded screamed and cried.
We've him dearly he has no learning difficulties but it has been a tough 4 years now in the process of ASD diagnosis through preschool. it was a relief to see it wasn't just me who found him hard work
What about a brain scan as pp's suggested. I think it is called brain mapping, a lady on another forum her DS had meningitis as a toddler he was later diagnosed with ASD.
I don't know much about it or the outcome.

You are entitled to the notes I recently got my daughters from the maternity NHS and ex NHS GP.
I contacted maternity medical records asked for my records under the data protection act, they said there was a backlog of requests.
I emailed in my ID my daughters ID a letter.
They didn't say why. They requested them from storage emailed back for my gp's address and sent them on. No problems.

I think you are understandably looking for answers but that your theory is flawed. Possibly researching your medical notes will help you find peace and that no one is to blame. Life is random, unfair and unkind sometimes.

summer No, sometimes answers can be found and sometimes it is due to medical negligence. Not everything needs to be a 'such is life' approach ffs