Birth Injury Law Firm

A baby’s birth is supposed to be one of the happiest and most memorable days a parent can experience. But what happens if your baby’s birthday is memorable for more than one reason? Such as a birth injury to your newborn child as the result of improper care from a medical professional? No baby–or parent–should ever have to experience that type of pain and trauma.

Information About Birth Injuries

Birth injuries, while not commonplace, occur more often than they should. The statistics vary, but between six and eight babies per 1,000 babies born are injured during childbirth. When you put your newborn baby’s health–and your own–in a doctor’s hands, you expect to receive the best care…not negligence or malpractice.

But just one small mistake by a doctor or medical professional can lead to long-term and even permanent injury or disability in a child. These are only a handful of the most common birth injuries that can result from improper medical care:

Brachial palsy: An injury to the nerve group in the shoulder that supplies the arm and hand. This generally happens when there is difficulty delivering the baby’s shoulder (shoulder dystocia) and can lead to temporary damage or even permanent damage if the nerve is torn.
Facial paralysis: This injury can occur if forceps are used for delivery. The pressure from the forceps on the baby’s face can result in temporary nerve damage (if the nerve is bruised) or permanent damage (if the nerve is torn) that could require surgery.
Fractures: The most common fracture that occurs during birth is to the clavicle (collarbone) due to difficulty delivering the baby’s shoulder.
Brain injuries: One of the more severe birth injuries, damage to the brain, often occurs when the doctors and medical professionals are not properly monitoring oxygen levels in the baby during and shortly after childbirth, or when the baby is in the birth canal too long. Oxygen deprivation can result in debilitating disorders such as cerebral palsy and chronic seizures and long-term physical problems and intellectual disabilities.
Cephalohematoma: This injury occurs when there is bleeding beneath the cranium, which can be caused by the use of birth-assisting tools. While this injury usually clears up on its own in time, it can sometimes lead to conditions such as jaundice, anemia, and even meningitis on rare occasions.
Caput succedaneum: Usually caused by improper use of a vacuum extraction tool, caput succedaneum is generally not considered serious. This injury leads to swelling of the scalp’s soft tissue, which often reduces within a few days. However, some instances of this injury have led to jaundice and kernicterus, causing brain damage.

When Should I Contact a Birth Injury Lawyer?

If your baby experienced any type of injury during birth, and you believe the injury was preventable and a result of medical malpractice, you should get in touch with experienced birth injury lawyers in the Washington, DC Metro area—like those at The Lapidus Law Firm.

The birth injury lawyers at The Lapidus Law Firm have years of experience and success in representing families pursuing medical malpractice and birth injury claims. However, even with that in mind, it’s helpful to know that birth injury cases (and malpractice as a whole) are complicated to litigate.

Also, birth injuries don’t always present themselves right away; even a brief period of elapsed time between delivery and specific symptoms can present challenges. And finally, babies can’t tell you what hurts, where it hurts, or how it happened. It may sound silly, but this makes proving injury at birth a difficult proposition. However, a skilled lawyer can step in and help tremendously.

If you are questioning your child’s birth injury or if you believe it occurred during or shortly after delivery due, you should absolutely follow your instinct and contact The Lapidus Law Firm to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.