Sometimes during childbirth, the baby may suffer physical injuries as a result of labor complications, incompetence or negligence on the part of doctors involved, or inefficient care provided by the hospitals.
The term "birth injury" generally refers to injuries to a baby just before, during, or immediately after the birth. These injuries cause trauma and lifelong financial burden to both the baby and the family. On some occasions, birth injuries may be a result of medical negligence.
Causes of Birth Injuries
Birth injuries vary from mild to severe, from a minor bruise to a severe nerve or brain damage. There are many things which may cause birth injury. Some of the most common causes of birth injury include fetal distress, breech birth and shoulder dystocia (shoulder dystocia occurs when after the delivery of baby's head, its shoulder gets stuck behind mother's pubic bone).
Some of the other pregnancy and birth complications that may cause brain damage, cerebral palsy (caused by the interruption in flow of oxygen to the brain), Erb's palsy (injury to the nerves that control the arm), etc. In many circumstances, birth injury can be prevented if a physician acts competently and takes proper care during a birth emergency.
Birth Injuries and Medical Negligence
In many cases birth injury is a direct result of medical negligence. A medical professional may fail to respond competently to fetal distress or cause delay in ordering a cesarean section; fail to diagnose gestational diabetes; delay or fail to respond to bleeding; fail to anticipate complications related to a large baby, improperly monitor baby’s vitals; cause medication or anesthesia errors; fail to perform genetic testing for conditions such as Downs syndrome, spina bifida, Huntington’s disease, Tay-Sachs disease, and fragile X.. These failures can lead to a birth injury and result in temporary or life-long problems for both the mother and baby.
Birth Injury Claims
The infant and the family who suffer from such lifelong trauma can file a suit against a negligent doctor and recover the damages. In a birth injury claim, you have to prove that the medical care professional owed a duty of care toward mother and baby, negligence of the medical care professional in fulfilling that duty and damage caused by such negligence or failure. The injured child often requires lifelong care to handle the disability related to the birth injury. An experienced birth injury lawyer not only handles the case to prove negligence of the medical care professional, but also gets experts to prove the compensation which will be needed for lifetime care.
