Some Women Continue to Smoke Despite Blatant Pregnancy Risks

Medical malpractice lawyers are a crucial part of the judicial system when it comes to securing the restitution deserved from various different types of birth injuries. Birth injury lawyers specialize in determining the cause, severity, and ultimate value that’s placed on a particular injury. Many times, these injuries occur because of simple negligence by the doctor involved in the birthing process. Other times it’s in the immediate post-birth care, when a baby’s breathing isn’t properly monitored, for example.

Overall, seven out of every 1,000 infants born will suffer a birth injury. Overall birth injury rates for the U.S. equal to about 28,000 every year. One of the biggest risk factors in determining birth injury rates is that of premature births. While there are many aspects that go into whether or not a baby will be born prematurely, smoking while pregnant is one of the most controllable, yet there are still too many women that do it.

According to the news station KTBS, a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics found that about one in ten women smoke in the three months leading up to pregnancy. Perhaps more troubling is the fact that just 25% of those women will quit before becoming pregnant.

“We know that smoking is a problem for pregnancy, and we continue to see many women smoking,” said Dr. Edward McCabe, senior vice president and chief medical officer at the March of Dimes. “Part of planning a pregnancy, if you’re smoking, is to work on quitting.”

Protecting the rights of our clients is of the utmost importance to us, but if it’s found that you were smoking during your pregnancy, the burden of blame can be shifted onto you quite easily.

Smoking during pregnancy can lead to premature births, which increases the odds of birth injury rates for conditions like cerebral palsy. Known as the most common motor disability in childhood, cerebral palsy affects approximately one in 323 children in the U.S., according to the CDC.

Holding medical professionals responsible for mistakes made or negligence is an important part of the birthing process, but taking the personal and appropriate steps necessary to ensure the healthy birth of your child yourself should always be the first priority of any expecting family.