About seven out of 1,000 babies in the U.S. are born with birth injuries. This figure is alarming, but some solace lies in the fact that parents can seek compensation in these cases against negligent medical providers. If your newborn suffered a birth injury, please contact a skilled medical malpractice attorney now for help.
Common Birth Injuries
Babies can suffer from a wide variety of injuries at birth. Some of the most common include:
- Bleeding in the brain,
- Brain damage,
- Brain swelling,
- Cerebral palsy,
- Erb’s palsy (brachial plexus palsy),
- Facial paralysis,
- Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy, HIE (Injury to brain cells from lack of oxygen), and
- Skull fracture.
If you believe your newborn was injured during birth, contact your doctor immediately.
Proving Medical Malpractice
If a medical professional helped contribute to a birth injury, you might have the option of filing a medical malpractice claim. This type of lawsuit alleges that a medical provider fell below an acceptable standard of care when helping deliver, or delivering, a newborn. In particular, you must show the following to prove malpractice took place:
- The doctor was negligent, meaning that he/she didn’t provide treatment in a reasonably skillful and competent manner, and
- The doctor’s negligence caused actual injury to the baby.
Examples of medical negligence that can cause or contribute to a birth injury include:
- Exerting too much force to pull or twist a baby during delivery,
- Failing to monitor the baby’s heartbeat and detect fetal distress,
- Failing to perform an emergency cesarean section (C-section) when necessary, and
- Misusing birthing tools during a vacuum or forceps delivery.
Compensation in Birth Injury Cases
If successful in a medical malpractice action, you can receive money to help pay for the medical treatment to give your child the best chance at improving his/her quality of life.
In particular, this compensation can help pay for:
- Adaptive equipment,
- Medications,
- Nursing and special care,
- Occupational therapy,
- Physical therapy,
- Special education costs,
- Speech therapy, and
- Surgery.
Contact Otorowski Morrow & Golden, PLLC
Please know that our firm is here to help if your baby was injured during birth. Otorowski Morrow & Golden, PLLC provides free consultations to all our potential clients. The attorneys at our law firm also have over 120 years of combined experience helping clients in medical malpractice cases. They never back down to insurers and fight for their clients’ interests every step of the way. Do yourself a favor and contact them now for the quality legal representation you deserve.