Fighting for Justice on Behalf of Your Child & Your Family
The birth of a baby is supposed to be a joyous time for the expectant parents and the entire family. Sometimes, however, births do not go as planned, often with disastrous results.
Childbirth is already a tense and scary process for many expectant mothers. You worry about the health of your unborn child, you worry about possible complications for yourself, and you worry about what will happen to your spouse and other children should something unexpected occur.
At LawMD, we have birth injury attorneys who are also doctors. We know firsthand how patients and their families must endure a range of emotions when something goes wrong during labor or delivery. We understand that a child’s birth injury can affect a family forever.
When a new life is shortened due to a doctor’s mistake, or a child’s health is seriously compromised by errors during labor or the birthing process, parents and other family members deserve answers, support, and compassion. We offer all of these things, and we also offer the dedicated legal guidance and representation you need and deserve.
What Are Common Causes of Birth Injuries?
Birth injuries can range from mismanaged labor that results in short-term complications to catastrophic mistakes that leave a child with permanent and serious disabilities. In the most horrific cases, a child dies due to a medical mistake during labor or childbirth.
At LawMD, our experienced birth trauma lawyers handle a full range of birth injury cases, including:
- Improper Vacuum Extraction or Use of Forceps: In some cases, labor is stalled because the baby gets stuck in the birth canal. This can be a dangerous event, as the baby may not be receiving the oxygen it needs. Medical professionals may resort to interventions, such as forceps or vacuum extraction, to facilitate the birth. However, these methods require a great deal of skill and experience. Babies delivered too forcefully can suffer a variety of injuries, including cerebral palsy and nerve damage.
- Failure to Perform Cesarean Section: Many mothers want to avoid a C-section, either because they desire more children in the future or because they dislike the idea of a surgical birth. In some cases, however, a C-section is a necessary and even life-saving procedure. Unfortunately, doctors sometimes wait too long to perform a C-section, exposing the mother and the baby to an array of potential problems that include oxygen deprivation, uterine rupture, and other complications.
- Hypoxia: Hypoxia occurs when a baby does not receive enough oxygen. When this happens, the baby can be left with significant brain damage. In the most serious cases, a baby dies due to a hypoxia injury. A medical professional must be quick to recognize the signs of hypoxia, as they usually have just minutes to correct the problem. Hypoxia can also occur due to a doctor’s failure to properly monitor the mother or the baby during labor or delivery.
- Improper fetal monitoring: Many birth injuries occur due to inadequate fetal monitoring, a doctor’s failure to recognize fetal distress, and delays in life-saving cesarean sections. The tragedy of birth injuries is that most are preventable. In many cases, mothers instinctively know that something is wrong but have their concerns and questions ignored by doctors, nurses, and medical staff.
Birth injuries can leave injured children with long-term disabilities, such as developmental delays, seizures, tremors, poor motor skills, vision and hearing loss, and behavioral problems. Although medical insurance may cover some types of therapy for these children, many families max out their healthcare benefits well before their child completes elementary school.
Traumatic birth injuries also frequently take a toll on parents. In many cases, mothers who have experienced birth trauma also experience various degrees of mental distress, which can include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to recent research, PTSD among new mothers is more common than previously thought, with up to 17% of postpartum women suffering from the disorder.
At LawMD, we know that childbirth is by no means a risk-free process. Although the majority of births are, thankfully, uneventful, a growing percentage of births in the United States result in some form of birth injury. Because we have lawyers who are also doctors, we know firsthand how a birth injury can impact the entire family, including siblings. A birth injury changes life for everyone involved, saddling families with emotional and future medical expenses they should not have to bear. A birth injury lawyer at our law firm can help you seek justice and financial compensation with a medical malpractice lawsuit.
What Are Common Types of Birth Injuries?
Several different types of birth injuries could be the result of medical malpractice. These include:
- • Bell’s palsy.
- • Broken bones and bone fractures.
- • C-section errors.
- • Caput succedaneum.
- • Cerebral palsy.
- • Clavicle fractures.
- • Erb’s palsy or brachial plexus injury.
- • Facial paralysis.
- • Head trauma.
- • Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.
- • Infant hematoma.
- • Internal hemorrhaging.
- • Intrauterine fetal demise.
- • Kernicterus.
- • Maternal injuries.
- • Perinatal asphyxia.
- • Severe jaundice.
- • Shoulder dystocia.
- • Spinal cord injuries.
- • Traumatic brain injuries.
- • And more.
If medical errors result in a child’s injury or serious injuries to the mother, the family has the right to take legal action by filing a birth injury claim. Medical providers are expected to provide a certain standard of care to their patients. If proper medical care is not provided, the healthcare provider and the hospital may be held liable for damages. Contact a birth injury attorney at our law firm to schedule your free case evaluation today.
Do You Need the Legal Representation of Experienced Birth Injury Attorneys?
Birth injury cases are a form of medical malpractice. These are incredibly complicated legal matters that require medical knowledge and decades of experience in the courtroom. Because birth injuries involve a child and, therefore, a lifetime of care, the damages are often in the millions. Putting an economic value on a lifetime of diminished capacity and loss of earning potential is a complicated legal task.
As a parent, you want to make sure your baby receives the most support, care, and resources he or she can get. You may need to plan for decades of medical care, surgeries, therapy, and medications. It takes highly skilled birth injury lawyers to make sure your child receives the maximum amount of compensation available.
Can Our Birth Injury Lawyers Work to Help You with Your Birth Injury Lawsuit?
After a birth injury, many parents go into survival mode. They have more stress and responsibilities than they can handle, caring for a child who has special needs or who must spend time in the NICU. On top of this, many parents must balance obligations at work as well as tend to other children at home.
It’s not surprising, then, that a large percentage of parents develop depression and other mental disturbances after enduring a traumatic birth. Many mothers develop post-traumatic stress disorder, which makes it difficult for them to function in their everyday lives.
No one should have to endure the trauma and heartbreak of a birth accident. If you lost a child during childbirth due to a doctor’s negligence, our lawyers are here to help. If you or your child suffered an injury because a physician, nurse, or hospital failed to deliver the appropriate level of care, we want to hear from you. Our birth injury lawyers are recognized throughout the nation as leaders in the field of birth injury litigation.
How to Prove Medical Negligence in Pursuit of a Birth Injury Settlement?
If an injury resulted from substandard medical care, it may be possible to file a birth injury lawsuit against the at-fault medical team. However, the burden of proof rests on the plaintiff’s shoulders. It is highly recommended to work with birth injury law firms such as ours when pursuing compensation for injuries to the mother or child during birth.
All successful birth injury lawsuits prove the following four elements:
- • There was a doctor-patient relationship that required the physician to provide a certain standard of reasonable care to their patients.
- • The medical team provided substandard care or negligent care that deviated from medical guidelines. It must be shown that any reasonably competent medical provider would have treated the procedure differently.
- • As a result of the breach of duty of care, you and/or your baby suffered serious injuries. These injuries must have also caused financial damages, emotional distress, or physical pain and suffering.
- • Finally, a direct line must be drawn between the breach of duty and the cause of injury.
When filing a birth injury or wrongful death claim, you need to work with personal injury attorneys from a law firm with a proven track record representing clients in other birth injury cases. LawMD has extensive experience representing clients in medical malpractice cases, including the traumatic and legally complex nature of birth injury lawsuits. Contact our birth injury law firm for a free case review today.
Can You Recover Financial Compensation with Birth Injury Lawsuits?
While no financial recovery can ever really undo the damage of serious injuries like brachial plexus palsy, traumatic brain injuries, and other developmental disabilities, the hope is to help lift the financial burden that families must contend with following severe birth injuries. With a well-argued case against the medical experts who acted negligently in your case, it is possible to recover both economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages may include the following:
- • Past medical bills and future medical expenses.
- • Lost wages and lost income earning capacity.
- • Occupational therapy expenses.
- • Physical therapy expenses.
- • Transportation costs.
- • Funeral, burial, and memorial expenses in the event of a fatal injury.
Non-economic damages may include:
- • Loss of quality of life.
- • Emotional distress.
- • Disability, disfigurement, or dismemberment.
- • Pain and suffering.
- • Wrongful death.
In certain cases, a jury verdict may award punitive damages if a doctor or hospital was grossly negligent.
What is the Statute of Limitations for Birth Injury Claims?
The statute of limitations for filing a birth injury claim varies from state to state. In Washington, DC, a parent may file a medical malpractice claim on behalf of their injured child anytime within three years of the incident.
If the child wishes to file a birth injury claim, they have up to three years after their 18th birthday to file such a lawsuit.
Failure to file a birth injury claim before the statute of limitations runs out could bar you from recovering compensation for your injuries.
What is the Difference Between Birth Defects and Preventable Birth Injuries?
A birth defect is an illness or health condition that the child develops while in the womb. Common examples of birth defects include Down syndrome, heart problems, and spina bifida.
A birth injury, on the other hand, occurs when the mother is in labor or is delivering her child.
Schedule a Free Consultation with an Experienced Birth Trauma Lawyer Today
When filing medical malpractice lawsuits, it is highly recommended that you work with inexperienced birth trauma attorneys. Our legal team can review medical records, investigate your birth injury case, and help negotiate for maximum compensation.
Many of the lawyers of LawMD have past experience as licensed doctors and medical professionals. This knowledge and experience grant us a unique perspective in the handling of birth trauma cases, and we would be proud to pass along our knowledge to you in your pursuit of justice and financial recovery.
