Birth Injury Attorneys

Giving Birth in your Late Years

With ever-increasing technologies, human kind has been constantly able to push the boundaries on performance, particularly the ability to give birth during or after menopause. Fertility treatments have lengthened the time frame in which women are able to give birth to newborns. As a result, more and more women are opting to have children later in life.

However, a recent study has revealed that having children later in life increases the chances of having serious complications during and immediately after the pregnancy. The Israeli study found that older women are hospitalized for the pregnancy for up to three times longer than women who are just five years their junior. Furthermore, these women in the study gave birth to twice as many low-birth-weight babies. The babies, in turn, needed more attention from the hospital staff to make certain that no serious complications resulted from these symptoms.

In general, giving birth after 50 years of age is quite rare in the United States. Of the nearly 12 million births that occurred between 1997 and 1999, only 500 of the women were over the age of 50. A significant portion of those women received donor eggs from much younger women, as part of a fertility treatment program. In vitro fertilization is also a popular treatment for older women and those who are struggling to give birth.

No matter what the choice of the client is, the risks must clearly be taken into consideration. If you or someone you know needs help in considering the risks involved with giving birth after 50, it may be a good idea to seek legal counsel. Preventing child-birth injury before it occurs is better than reaping the consequences of malpractice. For more information, contact the birth-injury law specialists of the Williams Kherkher firm at 866.950.9000.