What Is A Birth Injury And What Causes It?
Welcoming a child into your life should be a moment of celebration. But when negligent healthcare providers injure a newborn during pregnancy, labor, or delivery, that moment can become an ordeal. Catastrophic birth injuries can have a huge ripple effect on families and children.
You shouldn’t have to suffer because of someone else’s negligence. If you — or someone you love — have been a victim of birth injury due to a medical professional’s negligence, you owe it to yourself to contact a birth injury lawyer. While nothing may be able to make up for your child’s birth injury, a birth injury lawyer can help you fight for the justice you deserve.
What Is A Birth Injury
Generally, a birth injury includes any damage that occurs during the delivery of a child. These injuries consist of a broad spectrum from temporary bone breakage to lifelong brain damage. When birth injuries result from a medical professional avoiding reasonable care, they can fall under the umbrella of medical malpractice. This is because any preventable injury can cause birth injury victims an unspeakable amount of financial and emotional harm.
What Causes Birth Trauma
Because there are many types of birth trauma, there are likewise many different causes of trauma. Below we have included some of the more common causes of birth trauma.
Inadequate Prenatal Care
Inadequate prenatal care can contribute to the severity of birth issues. In an ideal world, a doctor should assess the mother’s health and note any risks. Special measures should account for conditions such as nutritional deficiencies, obesity, small stature, infections, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and high or low blood pressure. When proper precautions are ignored, it can be devastating.
Obstetric Negligence
Pregnancy and labor place significant demands on a woman’s body. A competent obstetrician can mitigate some of these damages. But negligent prenatal care can cause the mother lasting injury.
Failure to Recommend An Appropriate C-Section
Cesarean section birth provides a safe alternative to traditional birth that can prevent many common injuries such as brain damage, cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, brachial plexus injuries, and facial nerve damage. Doctors who do not adequately advise expectant mothers about C-section delivery may be negligent.
Failure to Recognize Fetal Distress
Fetal distress during pregnancy and delivery is the body raising a red flag about the fetus’ well-being. It can indicate conditions that require immediate attention, such as oxygen asphyxia. Doctors who do not recognize signs of fetal distress or do not act quickly enough — may cause infant brain damage.
Pulling on Infant’s Shoulders
Birth may require a doctor to guide a baby through the birth canal. As a doctor leads the baby through the birth canal, they may place too much force on the baby, injuring it. Sometimes this injury can cause severe and irreversible damage such as brachial plexus injury that causes the hands and fingers to experience numbness, paralysis, weakness, or deformity.
Labor and Delivery Negligence
There are many examples of labor and delivery negligence. Labor and delivery negligence may include any irresponsible action that damages the infant or their mother. Some examples are improper delivery room techniques, inattentive fetal heart rate monitoring, delaying necessary medical procedures, or failure to deliver an appropriate standard of care level.
Let The Birth Injury Attorneys at Farah & Farah Help
We trust hospitals with our well-being. When they violate that trust, you have the right to seek compensation. Birth injuries can result in lasting injuries that cause you and your family financial problems and immeasurable suffering. You may not know what options are available to you after experiencing a birth injury. You deserve to know about your rights.
Hiring a birth injury lawyer can help you get the justice you deserve. Farah & Farah have an outstanding record of winning birth injury cases for their clients. Contact Farah & Farah today for a free no-obligation consultation.
