I am well aware that injuries of the brachial plexus occurring at birth have been fully described in the medical literature. There are, however, certain complications of the condition that apparently have escaped notice, and that are of more frequent occurrence than the reports in the literature indicate. It is with this in mind that I have reported and discussed the following case of palsy of the phrenic nerve due to injury of the brachial plexus at birth.
REPORT OF A CASE
History.—S. G., a girl, aged 3½2 months, was brought to me on Sept. 9, 1924, because of failure to gain in weight. The mother was a primipara whose labor had been unusually difficult and prolonged. Because of a full breech presentation, the services of a consulting obstetrician were required for the extraction of the head. Resuscitation of the infant was readily accomplished, and the cyanosis, considerable at