I Have an HIE Baby. What Should I Do?

It’s stressful and scary to hear that your baby has a complicated injury like hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or HIE. Most parents have not heard of HIE until their child receives that diagnosis. 

In the early days of an HIE diagnosis, so much is uncertain. It feels like all you can do is wait for more information. Only time will tell how effective treatments are, and future MRI results can eventually tell more about how severe the brain injury may be.

What does a brain injury like HIE mean for your child? What’s their future going to look like? And what can you, as a parent, do now?

HIE, or hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, is a type of brain injury. HIE occurs when the brain does not receive oxygen for an extended period of time and usually occurs in labor and delivery.. HIE occurs in about 2.4 per 1000 births according to data from the National Health Insurance Service.

HIE is commonly treated with therapeutic hypothermia, or cooling therapy. This process lowers the baby’s body temperature for 72 hours. This lowers the baby’s metabolic rate and allows for more time for the brain to heal. Cooling therapy is proven to significantly improve outcomes for babies with HIE. 

Cooling therapy must occur within 6 hours of birth. The baby must meet several other criteria regarding their age, status, and other complications.

Your baby has a full team of medical professionals at the ready. Doctors, nurses, and specialists are doing everything they can to treat your child with their combined experience and knowledge.

In the meantime, be sure to care for your own needs. Managing a baby with HIE can be hard on the whole family, both physically and emotionally. Make sure to get rest whenever you can and eat regular meals. Reach out to people you trust for emotional support. 

Online support groups can also be a helpful way to connect with other parents who have been through similar struggles. Message boards like Reddit provide a place for parents to share their stories and questions. NICU support groups provide spaces for empathy from other families who have felt and lived through the same uncertainty you are experiencing now. These spaces are also moderated to ensure a safe and supportive environment. 

• NICU Parents Subreddit
• Journey into HIE Facebook group

A brain injury like HIE will affect every child differently. Observation, testing, and imaging results can indicate how severe your baby’s HIE is. 

To determine the severity of your baby’s HIE, medical staff will use various testing methods: 

• MRIs: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans show doctors where the injury is in the baby’s brain. Repeated scans can show how the injury improves or worsens over time.
• APGAR scores: Newborns with HIE typically have low APGAR scores, which means they need resuscitation immediately.
• EEGs: Electroencephalograms (EEGs) are another type of  test that measures and records brain activity and can show if the baby is having seizures, which can be associated with HIE.   

Your medical team will include professionals like neonatologists, who specialize in newborn babies, and pediatric neurologists, who specialize in brain injuries and treatment. These specialists can provide extra insight on your baby’s HIE, as well as what additional care they may need. Occupational, physical and speech therapists may begin to address problems with your baby’s feeding or movement.

In some cases of HIE, the only thing anyone can do is wait to see how the child will develop. Some results of brain injury are apparent immediately, while others may not appear for several months or even years. Plan to consult with your pediatrician and watch for developmental delays in your child. 

If these do occur, early intervention can make a big difference – if your child had HIE at birth, your family will likely qualify for programs to help your child develop the skills they need as they grow. A few early intervention programs include: 

• Zero to Three
• Early Head Start Programs | HeadStart.gov
• Early Intervention

HIE is caused by a traumatic injury at birth. Many complications before or during labor and delivery can result in not enough oxygen reaching a baby’s brain.

Common causes of HIE can include: 

• The baby not tolerating labor well (fetal distress)
• A delayed emergency C-section
• Iimproper fetal monitoring
• Umbilical cord complications

These situations can prevent the baby from receiving enough blood and oxygen from the mother during labor. The baby cannot tolerate these conditions for long. If doctors don’t intervene in time, HIE can occur.

Medical professionals must monitor the baby very closely during labor and delivery. If something is missed or treatment is delayed, HIE can occur when it was otherwise preventable with prompt action. 

If you think something wasn’t right with your baby’s treatment or care during labor and delivery, yes, you should call a lawyer. Calling an attorney may be intimidating, but it is free to do so. You can have a legal consultation to discuss your situation without having to sign up or file a lawsuit right away.

 At ABC Law Centers, you aren’t charged by the hour. Our firm handles all of the up front costs for your case, and we only charge a fee if we win your case. Justice should be available for everyone – so if you think your child’s HIE may have been caused by medical negligence, reach out to our team. We can go over your legal options with you.

With a complicated injury like HIE, you will want to work with an attorney who has an understanding of both what went wrong during birth and how HIE can affect your child’s life. We have in-house nurses to help go over medical records, identify negligence, and explain any complicated terms. Our firm has established relationships with experienced, well-qualified experts to identify what medical professionals should have done in your situation. and what your child may need as they grow up.

At ABC Law Centers, our attorneys are uniquely passionate about giving a voice to families harmed by medical malpractice. We dedicate our practice to babies with birth injuries like HIE, and focus exclusively on these cases. Several of our attorneys have pivoted from defending hospitals and insurance companies to representing families like yours. We want to make a difference in people’s lives, not a company’s bottom line.

You deserve the best future possible for your family, so we will fight for the best compensation amount available for your child. Compensation can cover:

• Medical treatments for your child
• Home modifications
• Mobility tools and assistive technology
• Lost wages

• Whole Body Cooling for Infants with Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy – PMC
• Growth and developmental outcomes of infants with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy – PMC
• Neonatal encephalopathy: Clinical features and diagnosis – UpToDate