Birth Injuries
You anticipate the day of your little one’s arrival with excitement and joy. However, it only takes a few moments for things to go horribly wrong and the birth of your baby is filled with fear, worry and concern. Birth injuries are far more common than what you would like to know, and they can affect your newborn’s quality of life now and their future.
How Birth Injuries Happen
A doctor, nurse or other people on the medical team can make a mistake or an error in judgment that leaves your little one injured. The injury may happen prior to birth, during the birthing process or just after birth.
While some of these injuries happen in spite of the best care being given, others are caused by negligence.
Common birth injuries include:
- Oxygen deprivation
- Bruising between the skin and brain or cephalohematoma
- Brachial plexus, which impacts the hands, arms and shoulders
- Cerebral palsy, which often happens from lack of oxygen
- Pulmonary hypertension
- Injuries from forceps or vacuum extraction
- Erb’s palsy, which causes paralysis of one arm
- Shoulder dystocia when the shoulders of the baby get lodged behind the pelvic bone
Birth injuries can also cause problems for the mother with a prolapsed uterus or rupture, injury from a c-section, perineal tears, infection, hemorrhaging and abnormal bleeding.
These injuries can occur if the baby’s heartbeat isn’t monitored accurately or if the doctor fails to perform a procedure, such as a c-section, in a timely manner. They may also occur because of errors in medication choices and poor care during pregnancy by the doctor.
Lifetime Impact
Some injuries will be corrected and healed in a few days or weeks while others are permanent. Even those injuries that can recover often cause a great deal of stress and heartache for the new mother and infant. If the injury is permanent, it means more medical care and adjustments in how to care for the baby. They may be limited in the future on their developments and ability to life a full life.
Along with the impact on the quality of the baby’s life, you must consider the cost of care. The child may need ongoing treatment, multiple surgeries, therapy and medication to help them recover or gain as much ability as possible. Changes may need to be made to accommodate a disability or special resources may be necessary to train the child to manage with their medical condition. These expenses can add up quickly. If their earning potential in the future as adults is impacted, the cost soars even more.
It’s important to fight for your child if they suffered a birth injury. You can speak with an experienced attorney who will work to get compensation for your child’s injuries. They will use their resources to prove that the injury happened because of negligence and to hold the responsible party liable.
You can contact Weiser & Associates for a free consultation to learn more about your rights. Contact us at 888-254-4697 or [email protected].