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.

Given the enormous care needs that your ds will need throughout his life then YANBU to investigate this further.

We do not know what causes autism but it certainly is within the realm of possibilities that brain damage as a result of low oxygen at birth could cause the difficulties he experiences. One question might be is if there is any family history of autism or learning difficulties as this would argue against birth problems being the cause.

Dd2 has cp after birth hypoxia. We are 13 years into a medical negligence case. In order for a ‘successful’ case, you have to be able to prove that the hospital/ doctor/ midwife could reasonably have been expected to identify a problem, altered the treatment at a specific time, and that doing so would have prevented the outcome.
So you will need to be able to prove that the midwife would have been reasonably expected to identify the problem, and had enough time to take action to alter outcome. Given that the baby presumably presented with normal apgars, and did not meet any criteria for scbu treatment and was discharged healthy, I don’t think there is any chance of proving negligence.
Dd2 was born with fhr of 28bpm, required ventilation and oxygen until day 12, has MRIs proving brain damage sustained at birth, was tube fed, and has required physio, OT, SLT from birth. In thirteen years no one has yet been able to prove that there was enough time from the point at which it could have been determined there was a problem, to be able to deliver by emcs which would (notionally) have reduced the severity of her brain damage.
Meant kindly, but it would be far better a use of years of your life to get a decent referral and start seeking out therapists that can make an active difference in your son’s development. If all the hundreds of children with autism I have had the pleasure of meeting, I have never met one where the cause has been identified. And certainly none where causation could reasonably have been prevented by a midwife in a relatively normal delivery.

The end of my pregnancy / twins birth was very scary.

DT1 was okay but needed some help breathing and feeding. DT2 had IUGR which hadn’t been picked up on scans, his heart rate was static and he’d stopped moving. I had an emcs and they both went straight to nicu. I only went in as I didn’t feel well and the hospital did everything they could.

DT1 came home after 17 days when he was doing well. He had no health issues as a baby.

DT2 spent two months in nicu diagnosed with a rare endocrine disorder. Since then he’s been diagnosed with some damage to his brain, his optic nerves haven’t fully developed, plus other medical issues still being investigated.

Despite how different things were for them, both of my twins have been diagnosed with autism.

The problem is proving there was negligence and proving that negligence caused your son’s health issues. Doing so is very difficult. I would recommend taking advice but I wouldn’t hold out much hope if I’m honest.

I thought there was a three year limitation period for bringing medical negligence / personal injury claims?

See a lawyer rather than delving into medical records yourself!

My brother is autistic and he had the cord wrapped around his neck at birth. He had to be resuscitated.

Purely anecdotal but just wanted to mention it as we have also wondered about this.

Interesting thread.
Our DS has severe autism, adhd, and dyspraxia. He is 12 and can't do many simple tasks eg getting dressed or toilet himself.
I went to the mat unit when labour started. Previously had an EMCS due to cord prolapse but wanted a vbac with ds.
Apparently my labour was very slow and I wasn't dilating so the senior midwife discharged me. Before I left, another midwife checked on me and said she wanted to put the heart monitor on me, that revealed that baby's heart rate was dropping very low so I then got rushed off for another EMCS.
When DS was born he wasn't moving or breathing so they had to work on him for a while but he was then OK, he never went to the scbu though. I had a massive pph as I did after my first CS so was rather ropey for a long time.

I'm still traumatised by the whole thing - and DH had the snip because I couldn't go through any of that again.

Ask for your notes first, op. Then you at least have a starting point. As another poster has said, medical negligence is sometimes hard to prove and can be very lengthy. Good luck.

Meant to add, his apgar scores were 0 and 1. I shudder to think what would have happened if the second midwife hadn't checked me before I left.

I think there have been some studies suggesting birth complications do lead to an increased risk of autism. For example this report www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170131124140.htm

One option would be to contact AVMA to ask what they think - they are are a charity with a helpline and advise people who feel they or their child have suffered harm during medical care

I can understand why you are desperate for answers and someone or something to blame, but please think twice before starting a case of negligence against your midwife. If the birth was as difficult and as prolonged as you say, without her both you and the baby would likely have died.

Sorry to be harsh but I loathe people who attempt to sue the NHS (or other emergency services, tbh) for money when they are cash strapped as it is and do everything they can to make lives better.

Unfortunately you have little chance of success with this line of thinking.

If there were issues, problems, or even negligence, it's highly likely it won't be in the notes. Why would any nurse or medical staff write in your notes that they hadn't done a/b/c? It's all about covering ones arse!

Like an above poster, Ive seen others with concerns not noted, and things definitely did go wrong, not noted down.

Even a very clever negligence lawyer might struggle to find anything to go on!

Please don't sue the NHS because your baby had a bit of trouble coming out of the birth canal.
You need a diagnoses of ASD and lots of support from the school to help as your child gets older.

I am an ASD mother and I know that Autism can be genetic but it can also be one of those things and in my case we had genetic testing and it was one of those things. So aside from the genetic side of it, nothing can cause Autism

Sorry to be harsh but I loathe people who attempt to sue the NHS (or other emergency services, tbh) for money when they are cash strapped as it is and do everything they can to make lives better.

While there are undoubtedly some cases motivated purely by money, when negligence causes life-long damage, I think it's entirely reasonable to seek compensation that can be used to defray the costs of subsequent care and disability. A severely disabled child will have lifelong care needs, possibly requiring 24-hour care, and will never be independent. They may require expensive equipment and/or adapted accommodation and they may never be able to work and will consequently be dependent on benefits.

In cases where negligence has led to this sort of disability, I think it's entirely reasonable to seek compensation.

I know a young man with very severe cerebral palsy following hypoxia at birth caused by negligence. Now 30, he is able to live in his own home, adapted to meet his needs, and with support from a round-the-clock team of carers. All this is funded from the settlement he got from the NHS/hospital etc, and without it he would have to live in a home.

His mother, who also suffered disabling injuries during his birth, has also been able to remain independent as a result of the compensation she got.

It took 15 years though.

@Aridane lawyer here (though I do not practice in medical negligence claims).

As ever with the law, there are subtleties when it comes to limitation periods for bringing a claim for negligence.

www.kingsleynapley.co.uk/insights/blogs/blog-medical-negligence-law/personal-injury-and-medical-negligence-limitation-period

This is helpful. But ultimately, I agree - if op does decide to pursue this, she should seek advice (including on the applicable limitation period) from a solicitor properly qualified in the area.

Sorry to be harsh but I loathe people who attempt to sue the NHS (or other emergency services, tbh) for money when they are cash strapped as it is and do everything they can to make lives better.

That’s not always the case. Medical negligence absolutely occurs, and legal action is often the only way to bring about change to the system. It doesn’t sound to me like this is one of those cases, but let’s not pretend it never happens. If you experienced medical negligence leading to your child needing intensive round the clock care, you wouldn’t pursue it? If your loved one died because of medical negligence, you’d just accept it?

I am an ASD mother and I know that Autism can be genetic but it can also be one of those things and in my case we had genetic testing and it was one of those things. So aside from the genetic side of it, nothing can cause Autism

At the moment all they can test for is the known genetic causes of ASD. It’s very possible (actually very likely) down the road they will discover more.

DT2 is part of the 100k Genomes study where his whole genome has been studied but all they can do is compare it to known genetic faults. As they discover more, they can run more comparisons. It’s all very interesting but sadly makes little difference to the outcomes for our kids.

There has been lots of studies on autism caused by birth trama.
Most case involved neo natal care.
I don't think yabu to consider it as a possibility.
www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/high-court/boy-settles-case-over-birth-at-national-maternity-hospital-for-7-25m-1.3933246

Im.not sure they actually know what causes autism ? My son has a chromosomal deletion which the Geneticists at St Mary,s hospital in Manchester believe is the underlying cause of his autism and learning disabilities.

Im.not sure they actually know what causes autism
This really. Confused by some of the matter-of-fact responses. We’ve done genetics and nothing came up. The brain scan shows the damage and that’s the likelihood in our case. It’s different for everyone.

I suspect ‘autism’ is actually a wide range of conditions with some similar symptoms, and lot of common comorbidities aren’t really comorbidities but are actually symptoms of some of these conditions.

My DD had a difficult birth, her heart rate kept dropping and I ended up with an EMCS. She didn't cry at all when she was born, and looked a bit beaten up but was ok. She had temperature issues for a bit in hospital and was put in one of those cots to help regulate her temp. She was diagnosed with ASD and dyspraxia, and I did wonder whether her birth had anything to do with this.

But then I had DS, by elective csection, absolutely no trauma to him at all. And he has ASD too. So that blew my theory out of the water.

My son has hypotonia, dyspraxia and learning disabilities that presents very like autism but his paediatrician assures us is not. He came out blue and needed resus at birth. But he also has a family history of dyspraxia on both sides.

I suspect there’s a much bigger range of causality than we know about . Only the other week at his paediatric review the doctor was talking about my extremely stressful pregnancy and how that could have impacted. Then there’ll be a million or none other things that affected him or not. Just like every person through conception, birth, life, death.

Certainly a century ago my son wouldn’t have survived birth/ infancy. He didn’t feed well or thrive, his hypotonia has blessed him with GORD, he’s asthmatic and was hospitalised a few times as an infant with breathing issues. He has little common sense or sense or danger and wouldn’t have made it out the nest.

The other possibility is that your baby struggled at birth because he was already suffering from his disability in the womb.

Were there any problems during pregnancy, any issues on scans?

FFS autism is not caused by a lack of oxygen. Be great UK for your child as he is.