Having a new baby is one of the happiest moments in the life of every new parent, and most of the time, parents leave the hospital with a beautiful, bouncing bundle of joy. When a newborn experiences a birth injury, however, the situation can be very different. Such injuries are extremely difficult and painful for both the newborn baby and the child’s parents. While some birth injuries cannot be avoided, others are a byproduct of medical negligence on the part of the hospital or medical staff.
What Are Birth Injuries?
Birth injuries are those injuries that an infant and/or the delivering mother experience right before, during, or after the birthing process. Some such injuries are unavoidable, but some are the result of negligent medical care. When a birth injury is determined to have been caused by medical neglect, the medical facility or healthcare provider can be found responsible for a variety of the damages you suffer:
Your resulting medical expenses, including ongoing expenses
- Your pain and suffering
- Your child’s resulting disability
- Your child’s resulting disfigurement
Birth injuries are often so complex and overwhelming that it can be difficult to adequately assess exactly how extensive the losses associated with such an injury are. Birth injuries can be caused by negligence on the part of any member of the involved medical team and can even be the result of the medical facility’s negligence.
If you or your newborn child suffered a birth injury that you believe was caused by medical negligence, you are no doubt distraught and at a loss for how best to proceed. Help, however, is available. The experienced legal team at Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers, PC injury law firm in Duluth, Georgia, understands how emotionally overwhelming these claims are, and we have the skill, dedication, and compassion to aggressively fight for your rights and for your rightful compensation.
Common Birth Injuries
Every birth injury claim is unique, but there are several newborn conditions that are commonly associated with such claims:
- Swelling of the scalp or head
- Facial paralysis
- Hemorrhage or blood clot
- Injury to the brachial plexus (weakness or loss of movement in the hand, arm, or shoulder)
- Partial palsy of the lower brachial plexus (Dejerine-Klumpke palsy)
- Birth asphyxia, which can lead to fetal stroke
- Strangulation or injury that’s caused by the umbilical cord
- Spinal cord damage;
- Brain injury caused by lack of oxygen
- Cerebral palsy (a disorder of posture, muscle tone, and/or movement)
- Cephalohematoma (a pooling of the blood under the scalp);
- Fractured bone
- Palsy of the arm (Erb’s palsy)
- Shoulder dystocia, which is a risk factor for both the mother and fetus caused by a fetal shoulder obstruction that results in a long, difficult, and dangerous birth
Medical Negligence
Medical professionals owe their patients a duty of care, and when they fail to provide the necessary standard of care, it can be medical negligence. In other words, medical professionals owe you at least that level of care that most medical professionals would routinely provide under similar circumstances. During childbirth, for instance, your obstetrician should adhere to the medical protocols that their reasonably prudent peers would typically adhere to in a similar birthing situation.
Birth Injuries and Responsibility
Birth injuries are always difficult and are often exceedingly serious. Additionally, the overarching negative consequences of such injuries are usually permanent. When a birth injury is caused by a medical professional’s negligence, that negligence can be factored into legal accountability. Further, the hospital itself can be found legally responsible or sharing in legal responsibility due to corporate negligence. Even the pharmaceutical company, in fact, can shoulder full or partial responsibility for a birth injury.
Medical Professionals and Negligence
Any medical professional—from your nurses to your attendant doctor (and other medical personnel)—who provides you with care during the delivery process can contribute to a birth injury through negligence. Hospitals and other birthing facilities have the further responsibility of ensuring that they hire adequately accredited and trained staff to provide medical care at a standard that meets all necessary industry regulations. In the end, the responsibility for a birth injury claim can filter throughout the medical organization, and determining exactly where such responsibility lies is frequently a complicated and exacting process.
Great Expectations
Preparing to welcome a new child into your family is one of life’s sweetest gifts, and while no birth is risk-free, you have every right to expect that each member of your birthing team will perform in accordance with the medical industry’s regulations and standards. If you or your newborn child suffer a birth injury, it can turn this joyous occasion into a tragedy that reverberates permanently within your family.
Your Birth Injury Claim
Both you and your unborn child deserve high-quality medical attention that meets modern medical standards. If the medical treatment you receive fails to reach this level of care, you and/or your newborn could suffer irreparable harm. If your child is born with a birth injury, the potential negative consequences are so great that you need experienced legal counsel.
As overwhelmingly difficult as birth injuries are, it is in both your child’s and your family’s best interest to seek legal help as quickly as you can. Birth injury claims are complicated, but your rights and your rightful compensation matter. By seeking immediate legal guidance, you allow your experienced birth injury attorney to get down to the important work of collecting critical evidence, interviewing the medical team responsible for your birthing process, consulting with medical experts, and pinpointing negligence in your unique claim.
Duluth Birth Injury FAQs
If you have concerns about a possible birth injury impacting your child and your family, contact Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers, PC to speak with a Duluth birth injury lawyer. Below are the answers to some commonly asked questions about birth injury lawsuits.
Some of the common types of birth injuries that can lead to a birth injury lawsuit include:
- Cerebral palsy – When the brain gets too little oxygen, cerebral palsy can result. It is a neurological condition that can impact motor skills and muscle tone. Depending on the severity, cerebral palsy can affect the rest of the baby’s life because it can impair development.
- Brachial plexus injuries – Generally, these happen during deliveries where the doctor uses incorrect instruments (such as forceps) or does not exercise the due care necessary to deliver the baby safely. Here, a bundle of nerves controls movement and sensation in the nerves that get stretched during delivery. In some cases, this damage can be permanent, leading to partial or full paralysis of the arm. Erb’s palsy falls under this category.
- Skull fractures and hematomas – These happen when there is pressure on the baby’s skull during delivery. Many fractures do not result in long term damage, but excessive bleeding and a hematoma can cause brain damage. Bleeding under the skull can cause long-term damage.
- Other brain injuries – Oxygen deprivation to the baby’s brain before delivery causes other types of brain damage. Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) is the most common of these injuries. When a baby is born with these types of injuries, it is usually because the doctor failed to monitor their condition in the prenatal period properly.
You do not need to worry about paying our lawyers. Our Duluth birth injury lawyers work for you on a contingency basis, meaning that they do not charge you any money upfront (such as in the form of a retainer), nor are they paid on an hourly basis. Instead, your attorney receives payment only if you are successful in obtaining a financial recovery in the form of a settlement or a jury verdict.
Your representation agreement will specify a percentage that your attorney receives out of your proceeds. They are paid directly from this financial recovery, without anything coming out of your pocket. If you are not successful in your case, they do not receive payment for their services. Never let a lack of money get in the way of obtaining the legal representation that you need. Everyone can afford an attorney, even if they have no money.
The most frequent defendant in a birth injury lawsuit is the doctor who caused the injury through their own negligence. Most often, your lawsuit will analyze the doctor’s actions while the mother was pregnant, or during the delivery that caused the mother’s or baby’s injuries. In many cases, the doctor does not simply work for themselves. Instead, they work for a medical group or a hospital. You can also sue both of these entities in your birth injury lawsuit. The employer can face responsibility for the acts of their employees that occur within the scope of their employment. Moreover, you can also sue the hospital for the actions of its other employees during the birth process that led to the injuries. In fact, the hospital usually has “the deepest pockets” and is the entity that can make your settlement larger.
Ask for sufficient damages for your birth injury lawsuit. This case is the one opportunity that you will have to obtain money to pay for what could be a lifetime of care for you or your child. If you settle your case for less than what it is worth, you may end up with insufficient funds later in your child’s life without the money to cover the care. Many birth injuries end up requiring a lifetime of care because they are so severe.
Many of the damages relate to what your child has gone through or will go through during their lifetime. Birth injury damages may include:
- Pain and suffering for both the past and future (often the largest part of a birth injury lawsuit)
- The cost of medical care both in the past and the future (since your future medical costs are difficult to estimate, your lawyer will ensure that you seek enough damages)
- Lost wages for time missed from work by the injured mother or due to time that the parents need to take off from their job to care for their injured child
- The cost of special education and nursing care
- Housing costs for the child as they grow up if they are severely disabled, which can include ramps for wheelchairs and stair-lifts
The amount to seek in damages is certainly not something that you would know on your own. Birth injuries can be quite severe. In many cases, they require an encompassing care plan for the rest of the baby’s life since they will never fully recover from these serious injuries. Your attorney would calculate the proper amount of damages by considering the present and future needs of the child, as well as by consulting experts who will help shape a viable lifecare plan. In addition to medical experts (such as physicians and those who have experience planning for special needs), you also need to have economic experts on the team who can forecast how much things will cost years into the future. The amount of damages that you seek is not a calculation that you can make lightly.
You always want a Duluth birth injury attorney to calculate your losses and ensure you seek the full amount you deserve. Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers, PC knows how to determine past and future damages in birth injury cases.
While the rate of birth injuries has declined somewhat this century, it is still unacceptably high. In 2004, the rate of birth trauma was 2.6 babies out of every 1,000 live births. By 2012, that declined to 1.9 babies out of every 1,000 live births. While this number may seem low to many, it breaks down to one baby out of every 500 injured at birth, often due to the doctor’s negligence. However, not every one of these birth injuries is severe.
Physicians have decreased their reliance on forceps extractions, which can cause long-term injuries to babies. Physicians have increased their use of Cesarean section surgeries since it decreases some of their legal risks. Nevertheless, there are still too many birth injuries due to the negligence of others.
In general, birth injuries can impact six babies out of every 1,000, meaning that tens of thousands of babies each year are born with injuries, many of which doctors could have avoided.
Some of the common causes behind birth injuries include:
- Prolonged labor – The doctor has allowed the mother to remain in labor for too long. By definition, labor is a traumatic process for the baby, who must leave the uterus and traverse through the birth canal. The longer that labor lasts, the more of a risk of injury to the baby. Roughly 8 percent of women giving birth experience prolonged labor, which places the baby at greater risk.
- Oxygen deprivation – The labor process constricts the baby’s oxygen supply. The placenta can separate from the uterus, cutting the baby’s oxygen. Even moderate loss of oxygen can lead to serious long-term injury. Other causes of oxygen deprivation include a prolapsed umbilical cord, a difficult delivery, or the baby’s blocked airways.
- Failure to monitor the mother and baby – Doctors need to keep a continuous watch over the health of both the mother and baby during the labor and delivery process. This monitoring starts even before delivery to detect any potential problems during the delivery. Many birth injuries happen when the doctor is unaware of the mother’s risk factors or that the baby is in any form of distress.
Many birth injuries are completely avoidable. The rate of birth injuries is generally decreasing because of a reduction in forceps use during deliveries. Nonetheless, nearly half of birth injuries that occur are preventable, meaning that babies and mothers are injured every year due to medical mistakes.
One of the first things that your birth injury lawyer will do is work with medical experts to determine if the birth injury was preventable. Certain categories of birth injuries, such as brachial plexus, cerebral palsy, and Erb’s palsy, strongly imply some sort of negligence. Nonetheless, our attorneys will analyze and recreate the events that led up to the birth injury.
In general, the doctor must breach their duty of care by acting unreasonably before the labor and delivery or during the process itself.
What follows are some examples of actions taken by doctors that a jury might consider negligent:
- The physician or medical staff did not properly monitor the mother or the infant before delivery.
- The doctor chose the wrong or more risky medical instrument to use (such as forceps) or did not use the instrument properly.
- The mother needed a quick C-section surgery to deliver the baby, who was in distress, but the doctor delayed in making the decision.
- The doctor prescribed a medication that hastened delivery without knowing the effects.
- The baby does not receive the proper amount of oxygen before or after delivery because the doctor does not identify or act to address the deficiency.
Birth injury lawsuits are not always easy to pursue because they require an attorney who has extensive knowledge of the field and the ability to work closely with medical experts. Your attorney will need to know everything that happened leading up to the birth injury to demonstrate to the jury that the doctor was negligent, and it caused the birth injury.
Your attorney will be your legal advocate and your trusted adviser throughout the process of a birth injury lawsuit. They will work with you to discuss your legal options and formulate the best possible strategy for obtaining the financial compensation that your family needs and deserves. Your attorney will begin to assist you the moment that they first meet you, giving you their professional opinion about the strength of your case and the possible way forward.
These lengths of time depend on the complexity of your case and how the doctor and hospital react after they receive notice of the lawsuit. Given the damages that you could receive, some birth injury cases do not proceed quickly. Birth injury lawsuits involve lifelong medical costs in many instances, and doctors and their insurance companies may take time to defend the case and figure out their own legal strategy.
These cases will also involve much expert testimony and review of the medical records. In a best-case scenario, the defendant will realize their own risks and want to talk about a settlement as soon as possible. However, an initial move towards a settlement does not always happen. As your birth injury attorney, we could help you negotiate the best possible settlement while always being prepared to litigate the case if it is necessary. We are always ready to fight for you.
Birth injury cases can take a long time to work their way through the court system. Many defendants do not feel any pressure to settle the case until the eve of trial. In some cases, they may be trying to wait you out to increase their own leverage, another reason why you need tough attorneys who will show you compassion while fighting for your legal rights.
The Duluth birth injury attorneys at Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers, PC are ready to assist you and your family.