by David Chester Ohio Birth Injury Lawyer
Childbirth is a wonderful and exhilarating experience. It is a time for joy and celebration and the last thing you should be thinking about at this time is a birth injury attorney.
However, while the majority of births go easy, with very little trauma associated with it for either the mom or the baby, there are cases where birth related trauma can happen. This could be either through physical limitations on the part of the mom or because of unforeseen incidents that can cause damage to the baby as it is coming into the world. If you feel that your infant may have sustained some injury at birth, you should contact an experienced birth injury attorney.
As any experienced attorney in the field of birth related trauma will tell you, not all of these incidents of birth injury have obvious and recognizable symptoms that can be treated immediately; some may result in your baby being either physically or mentally limited later on in life.
No matter how minor you may think the injury is, it is always better to get in touch with a birth injury attorney, who will guide you and give you the right advice. Personal injury attorneys know what questions to ask the personnel at the hospital and will gather all the medical evidence that is necessary, should your worst fears come true regarding the birth injury.
When Happiness Turns Into Trauma
Every mother-to-be does her best to ensure that she and her baby remain in the best health possible before the big event. Every birth is different and if your obstetrician is on top of things, they should be able to detect potential problems before they happen.
Should the unfortunate happen, and your child could perhaps suffer long term effects due to a birth injury, your attorney will be able to determine from the documented medical evidence whether or not your doctor knew that there might be problems in advance of the time you went into labor.
If you suspect something went wrong with the delivery, your birth injury law firm can also tell if the doctors did the right tests after the deliver to make sure your child was ok. If not, these tests may have to be performed to see if there was any damage to your child’s body.
It could happen that everything goes as it should but because of complications during the actual delivery, your child suffers a birth injury regardless of precautions taken. When this happens, your lawyer will still need documented medical evidence of prenatal care and the events as they occurred during the birth of your child, as well as future care plans for your child as a result of that birth injury.
With your help, your law firm can make sure that if anyone is at fault for your child’s birth injury, compensation will be attained and future care of your child will be assured.
Hidden Physical Dangers during Childbirth
It is not unheard of for a baby to have one or several of their soft bones broken during a difficult delivery. This can occur for any number of reasons, including an improper positioning of the infant inside the birth canal or even exiting through a too narrow womb.
Broken Bones:
A baby’s arms, legs, shoulders and hips can be broken or dislocated during birth. While most doctors will assure you that these can be easily set after birth, but experience has shown this is not as simple as it seems. The bones can be set, this is true, but there is also the possibility that your child will suffer from the aftermath of this birth injury for some time to come.
Erb’s Palsy:
A knowledgeable birth injury attorney also knows that when bones are broken in such a small child, while the bones may be set and healed, the nerves surrounding those bones and muscles may not always heal properly.
Erb’s Palsy, for example, is a condition caused by damage being done to the brachial plexus nerve, which is a nerve that controls the muscles of the shoulder and the upper extremities. These nerves conduct signals from the spine to that area for movement, and damage can severely limit its response, leading to restricted movement and underdevelopment of those muscles.
Loose Joints:
This is a condition where bones were dislocated at birth and later put back, but the bone never really grows to fit that joint and will forever after be prone to dislocation. Also known as being “double-jointed”, it can be actionable and a birth injury claim may be possible. An experience personal injury law firm which specializes in birth related trauma would be able to make this call.
Oxygen Deprivation During Birth
Another unfortunate development that can occur while you are giving birth is for your baby to have the oxygen supply to its still developing brain be cut off in some manner.
Premature babies are especially prone to this, giving rise to a host of serious medical conditions because all of their organs are critically underdeveloped. If lack of or poor prenatal care is the cause for premature birth injury, your birth injury attorney could seek confirmation of this as proof for later compensation for your child’s continued care.
Oxygen can also be deprived during birth through prolonged labor, improper dilation of the birth canal or even through the umbilical cord wrapping around the baby’s throat. All of these conditions can cut off the blood supply through the umbilical cord, which also carries oxygen to the brain.
Babies are often born “blue” because of this, and while normal breathing is usually restored immediately, it only takes a minute of oxygen deprivation to cause damage and injury to your child’s brain. A legal professional would be able to examine all documented medical evidence carefully to ascertain whether there is lasting harm done.
The Biggest Hidden Danger of Birth Related Trauma
One of the most dangerous hidden medical conditions that are not always discernible immediately after birth is Cerebral Palsy. Babies born prematurely or with low birth weight are the ones most likely to develop this medical condition later on in life.
Too often it is not even detected until you or your pediatrician realizes that your child is not developing at the rate they should be, physically or mentally. You may think that it is too late to consult with a legal representative, but there never is such a thing as “too late” to at least talk to a birth injury lawyer.
Law firms which are experienced in birth trauma also know that difficult labors and oxygen being cut off to your child’s brain are the primary factors for a child to develop cerebral palsy. Infections in the mother that were not detected by the prenatal care doctor, like toxoplasmosis and rubella, can affect the infant before it is even born, resulting in cerebral palsy. If treatment for any of these conditions were ignored or delayed by the prenatal care doctor, your birth injury attorney can find grounds for compensation due to their negligence.
DISCLAIMER: When necessary, Chester Law Group with client consent teams up with litigation co-counsel with trial experience in medical malpractice claims to help clients achieve the best results possible.