When birth defects are caused during delivery itself, the heartbreak
and the anger of the parents are inconsolable. After doing everything
right for nine months, their child’s health and future life’s quality
may be severely curtailed and negatively impacted by an ill chosen,
falsely indicated, and perhaps incompetently administered procedure.
Forceps deliveries fall into this category as having a high potential
for causing problems. Yet should you truly discount their vital
functioning?

Generally speaking, forceps are little more than oversized tongs which
are inserted into the vagina to extract an infant who has traversed
far enough out of the uterus to just need that last little bit of help
to make it into the world. Though never planned, forceps are a staple
of most any birthing room in a well stocked hospital and are available
at a moment’s notice if the child should present with sudden distress
that requires immediate removal from the mother’s body. In the same
way, maternal distress brought on by a sudden elevation of the blood
pressure that may result in serious heart problems if pushing is
permitted to continue, may also persuade the attending obstetrician to
utilize the help of forceps.

The birth defects that have been blamed on forceps deliveries are far
reaching and are directly attributable to a doctor’s ability to
properly work with the instrument. Since the forceps are applied to
the child’s head with the intent of pulling the infant from the
mother’s body with the help of the oversized tongs, the danger of
having an inexperienced physician press too hard is high. An immediate
consequence is a skull fracture which in turn may lead to brain
damage. Furthermore, if the pull on the child’s body is too strong for
its delicate bones, the possibility of spinal cord injuries is real
and every present, and a side effect of injuries to this area of the
child’s body is the potential for the infant not being able to breathe
on its own.

Considering the dangers and drawbacks, it is not surprising that many
a physician shies away from the use of forceps and instead opts for
the tried and true Caesarean delivery, yet this trend may cause more
harm than good. Add to this the fact that with forceps an emergency
birth may be affected literally within a few split seconds while a
Caesarean requires preparation time which may permit valuable minutes
to tick away, and you can see why the failure of obstetricians to
permit themselves to be trained in the proper utilization of this
medical instrument is actually contributing to the problems at hand
instead of soling them. Therefore, when birth defects are caused
during a forceps delivery the very fact that a physician may have been
ill advised or inadequately trained to utilize this medical equipment
needs to give pause to the medical establishment as a whole and then
translate into decisive action.  Although not popular with parents and
doctors, the need for training in the area of forceps delivery must be
made a standard practice of anyone who plans to attend births at a
hospital; after all, the last thing you want to endure as a mother who
is about to give birth is the sudden knowledge that your doctor is
unsure how to proceed when the fetal monitor alerts everyone in the
room to a problem that must be dealt with now!