If you or a loved one’s child was injured during birth, you may be looking for an attorney to represent you in a medical malpractice claim against the baby’s labor and delivery doctor. This experience makes them particularly well-equipped to handle your claim.
What types of medical malpractice can cause a birth injury?
Medical malpractice, generally speaking, is when a doctor acts outside the scope of a reasonable medical professional to provide medical care that results in harm to a patient. Examples of potential medical malpractice during birth that may lead to the injury of infants include:
- Improper Instrument Use. Forceps and vacuums are two tool commonly used by obstetricians when delivering children. Sometimes, using these devices is warranted and even necessary to complete a healthy delivery, but sometimes they are not. Forceps and vacuums carry certain risks, and are not always the reasonable choice during delivery. At their worst, they can cause nerve damage to a baby’s neck and chest and other, more minor, injuries to the infant’s head.
- Delay in Recommending Cesarean Delivery (C-Section). Doctors may order an emergency c-section in cases of fetal or maternal distress. If an obstetrician or other delivery staff fails to reasonably recognize an infant or mother’s need for an emergency c-section, this can result in delayed delivery and difficult complications for the baby and mom. An example of an injury resulting from a delay in c-section recommendation is hypoxia or oxygen deprivation, resulting from damage to the umbilical cord or placenta.
Why contact an attorney?
Birth can be a traumatic experience for mothers and babies alike. The emotional toll of having an injured child or mother, or losing their lives, is unfathomable for most people. Although money will never make up for the trauma you and your child have endured, it can go a long way to taking care of your financial obligations so that you are freer to take the time and energy that you need to heal. Do not hesitate and contact an experienced lawyer, like a birth injury lawyer Salt Lake City, UT relies on, to ensure that you are well informed legally.
Thank you to Rasmussen & Miner for providing their insight on birth injuries.