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Shoulder Dystocia and the Duty of Informed Consent

By John Ratkowitz
February 29, 2012

Shoulder dystocia is a birth complicated by a failure to deliver the fetal shoulders through gentle downward traction on the fetal head. It poses an obstetric emergency, and is associated with brachial plexus injuries, fractures of the clavicle and humerus, and in some severe cases, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and even death.

Shoulder dystocia can occur when there is impaction of either: 1) the anterior fetal shoulder behind the maternal pubis symphysis; or 2) the posterior fetal shoulder on the sacral promontory. Fetal macrosomia (a.k.a. “big baby syndrome”) and maternal diabetes increase the risk of encountering shoulder dystocia during a delivery. In addition, other antepartum conditions can also forecast that a delivery is at an increased risk for shoulder dystocia, including maternal obesity, multiparity, post-term gestation, previous history of a macrosomic birth and a previous history of shoulder dystocia.

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