Birth injuries are unfortunately a fact of life that can occur on the part of your doctor, hospital, or nurse before, during, and after the delivery of your baby. Common birth injuries include Cerebral Palsy and Erb’s Palsy. These are motor disorders that last a lifetime. If you have experienced a birth injury due to negligence, you should contact an Ohio birth injury attorney to inquire about a personal injury settlement so that your child and their injuries are taken care of properly.
Lawyers at the Chester Law Group handle birth injury cases and can guide you through this process. Contact us today to discuss a possible birth injury case.
What Should I Do If My Child Has a Birth Injury?
What should be a happy moment in your life could be devastating if your child suffers from a birth injury. It is absolutely devastating to realize that your child will have mental or physical impairment for the rest of their lives due to medical negligence at the time of birth. The most common birth injuries include Cerebral Palsy, Erb’s Palsy, and other problems.
These birth injuries often occur as a result of improper handling by your doctor or hospital around, during, and after the time of birth. The physical, emotional, and financial burdens can be overwhelming to your family. If you have experienced a birth injury, you need to contact a birth injury lawyer to set up a consultation to inquire about your rights and see if you qualify for a personal injury settlement. Our birth injury lawyers at Chester Law Group are experienced in birth injury cases and can guide you through the appropriate legal steps. Contact us today at (800)218-4243.
How to Identify Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral palsy is a debilitating injury to the brain that can occur before, during, or after birthing. This often occurs due to low oxygen levels resulting in neuronal cell death. This can be the result of bad practice on the part of your healthcare provider, midwife, or nurse.
Signs and Symptoms of Cerebral Palsy include:
- Lack of muscle tone where the infant has improper body movements, lack of balance, and posture
- The infant may have a bluish color or be darker than normal
- An infant may have failed to breathe following delivery or required some form of a respirator to maintain respiratory function.
- The infant may have experienced seizures within 48 hours of delivery
- With time, the child is will develop slowly and not developing skills at a normal time such a crawling, walking and talking due to lack of muscle tone
- There will be problems with eating and swallowing due to lack of muscle tone
What is Erb’s Palsy?
Another form of palsy is Erb’s Palsy. Erb’s Palsy is also known as Brachial Plexus Birth Palsy because the child suffering from the birth injury has a tear in the nerves that supply the neck and upper chest. This type of palsy results in loss of movement and sensation in the arm, hand, and fingers. This Palsy can occur when the fetus’s shoulder becomes lodged behind the pubic bone and the appropriate procedures are not applied for proper delivery.
Signs and Symptoms of Erb’s Palsy include:
- Infant presents with a limp arm
- Infant has decreased ability to grip on the damaged side
Additional Common Birth Injuries
Beyond Cerebral Palsy and Erb’s Palsy, there are a number of other birth injuries that can occur due to malpractice on the part of the medical practitioner that include:
- Skull fractures
- Brain hemorrhage (bleeding) due to broken blood vessels
There are also birth defects that can occur in the fetus prior to birthing due to chemical exposure such as prescription medications which include, but are not limited to:
- Facial nerve damage
- Spina bifida
- Cleft lip/palate
- Blindness
- Deformed or missing limbs/organs
- Heart defects
Can a Legal Claim be Made Against a Hospital if my Child Has a Birth Injury?
If your loved one is suffering from a birth injury, reach out to Chester Law Group.
If your infant has suffered from a birth injury, you may wonder who is responsible. Is it the physician, hospital, or nurse?
Of course, the first individual considered will be the doctor who handled the birthing. If your physician failed to meet the standard protocol set by Ohio law, they may be responsible for any of the injuries his or her carelessness caused. It will be left up to you to prove that the doctor did not meet standard protocols.
It is also possible that the doctor can be held responsible for the actions of other caregivers present such as interns, nurses, or other physicians that were present during delivery if he or she should have caught any mistakes the other medical professionals were making. To put it simply, the doctor can be found medically negligent if his or her medical care falls below the average standard of medical care provided by similar doctors in the same geographic area. This manus that a medical specialist will have to provide care that is at least as good as the average medical specialist in the area, or in this case the average OBGYN doctor. More specialized doctors may have to do more and know more to meet the average standard of care in their area. After all, specialists have more knowledge, and by definition, this special knowledge requires a higher standard of action to meet the standard of care.
Hospitals must follow certain protocols that are similar to other institutions. They are responsible for providing proper care of their patients in a timely and clean manner. Clinics and hospitals are also responsible for their employees including nurses, staff physicians, and technicians as well as medical equipment.
Nurses can also be held responsible for medical malpractice if they are negligent of duties such as improper monitoring of patients, failure to medicate the patient properly and observe side effects, and failure to report any changes in the patient’s condition to the physician.
Projected Life-Time Costs of a Birth Injury
Think about what you will have to do to raise a child who has a birth injury. Chances are there is no cure for the injuries your child has sustained, so this will be a lifetime endeavor. You will need some reasonable compensation to make sure you have the resources to provide proper medical care for your child due to life-long disabilities.
A birth injury lawyer can work with you to establish the needs of your child such as projecting costs for ongoing medical expenses including doctor’s visits, medications, and surgeries if needed. They will determine how much money you need to secure for therapeutic physical and psychological treatments. Special education, including speech therapies and possible vocational training, may be required. You may have to supply artificial limbs, braces, or even wheelchairs for your child. It is possible you may need a specialized vehicle that is properly equipped for the handicapped. You may even need to remodel your home for easy access. You need to make sure that all the costs are considered including pain and suffering. You and your child’s future depend on it.
Consult with an Experienced Birth Injury Attorney Today
If your think that a physician, hospital, or nurse was negligent during your delivery that generated a birth injury, your family may be entitled to financial compensation for pain and suffering, medical bills, and future complications. You should contact a birth injury attorney as soon as possible.
The Chester Law Group is a personal injury law firm located in Ohio that handles birth injury cases and can guide you through a personal injury settlement. Your birth injury lawyer will advise you every step of the way. Contact our attorneys at the Chester Law Group today via email to get the help you want from people that you can trust, or call us at (800) 218-4243.
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.