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Frequent Causes Of Birth Injury Cases
At Vinkler Law, our birth injury lawyers have handled hundreds of birth injury and birth trauma cases caused by a wide range of circumstances. Some of the most frequent causes of birth injury and birth trauma cases include:
- Fetal Oxygen Deprivation – Lack of oxygen (Intrauterine hypoxia) is the leading cause of brain damage to infants at birth, occurring in 4 in 1,000 births.
- Labor and Delivery Medication Errors – Some common mistakes relate to various drugs used in labor and delivery, such as Pitocin (oxytocin). The results of improper use, dosage errors, and medication confusion can be devastating, including the death of a mother or child.
- Fetal Monitoring Errors – When doctors or nurses make medical mistakes in monitoring fetal distress or other problems, the result can be a birth injury with lifelong consequences for your baby.
- Instrument Injuries – Forceps, vacuum extractors/suction, and other instruments used during difficult deliveries can cause severe injury and even death to your baby if not used properly.
- Infection or Sepsis – Infection can occur during pregnancy or at birth in either the mother or the child. Birth injuries arise when a physician fails to detect, diagnose, or treat the infection appropriately.
- C-Section Mistakes – Thousands of birth injuries and deaths are the direct result of C-section delays and errors made during the Cesarean delivery process.
Common Types of Birth Injuries and Birth Trauma
When a child suffers injury or harm before, during, or immediately after the birth process, this is considered a birth injury. If an infant suffers physical harm like a broken bone during the delivery, the resulting damage is considered birth trauma. Some common types of birth injuries and birth trauma caused by a negligent healthcare provider include:
- Bone Fractures – Broken bones occur during birth often when a medical provider is trying to maneuver a baby for delivery and include fractures of the clavicle (collarbone), humerus (long bone of the arm), femur (thigh bone), and skull.
- Facial Paralysis – the result of pressure being put on a baby’s face during or before delivery, Referred to as facial nerve palsy, this condition affects the nerves that control the various facial muscles.
- Brain Damage – Infant brain damage may result from physical trauma during the birth or the delivery process, exposure to toxins, deprivation of oxygen, complications with the umbilical cord, and placenta separating from the uterus.
- Cerebral Palsy – Cerebral palsy is a type of brain damage that can happen during or before delivery with a child losing the ability to control his or her muscles and can be the result of a number of birth injuries.
- Shoulder Dystocia – When the shoulder of a baby gets lodged behind his or her mother’s pelvic bone during birth, the result can be shoulder dystocia.
- Erb’s Palsy – Erb’s Palsy is a condition that may result when damage to the nerves running from the spinal court to the shoulders and arms.
- Anoxic and Hypoxic Brain Injury – Hypoxic and anoxic brain injuries can occur when little or no oxygen reaches a baby’s brain during labor or in the delivery process.
- Meconium Aspiration Syndrome – If meconium is present during birth and mixes with amniotic fluid, it can get in an infant’s lungs resulting in serious consequence.
- Wrongful Death – When a birth injury causes the death of a mother or her child, a wrongful death lawsuit often results.
You Can Help Your Family While Preventing Harm to Others
If you do have a birth injury case, it’s essential to consider all angles before pursuing a birth injury lawsuit.
The most obvious reason to consider is that you will need to protect yourself and your family. Medical bills are a big concern. Those include bills coming at you right now as a result of your birth injury. Depending on the injury, you might also face more medical bills and bills from support services well into the future. Why should you pay those medical expenses yourself when the injuries occurred through no fault of your own?
The other thing to consider is that legal action often creates positive change. Medical mistakes usually happen because of a series of events. Nothing sparks policy changes or how medical professionals do things like a birth injury claim against them. Holding those responsible accountable now can help prevent harm to others in the future.
Choosing to pursue a birth injury case may be a difficult decision. Still, ultimately, you will be helping protect yourself, your baby, your family, and possibly other babies and mothers to come.
