Medical Negligence: when a doctor or medical professional fails to use the degree of skill and learning ordinarily used under the same or similar circumstances by members of their profession

 

Medical malpractice is one of the most complicated areas of law. If you are a suspect medical negligence may have played a part in your child's injury, you need an experienced birth injury attorney who understands the complexities of these cases. A birth injury lawyer can help you get the settlement you need to take care of your child's enormous medical costs, help you deal with the emotional hardship a birth injury can cause, and help your family adapt to this lifestyle change.

How we prove negligence
There are several tools that attorneys use to prove that a birth injury was caused by negligence or carelessness. Our attorneys will closely observe and investigate every aspect of your pregnancy and childbirth. Your attorney and specialized medical experts will carefully study the medical records, including neonatal records, newborn records, the fetal heart monitor and strip, and your labor and delivery records. Also, copies of imaging studies performed on the child, including ultrasounds CT scans, or MRIs of the head should be carefully studied. Any deviation from the standard of care is a good indication that negligence has occurred.

Failure of your doctor or birth team to respond to any of the following could be a sign of medical negligence:

  • Maternal or fetal bleeding
  • Maternal or fetal distress or anoxia (lack of oxygen)
  • Umbilical cord entrapment or compression
  • Need for Cesarean Section
  • Vacuum extractor and forceps use
  • Infections
  • Anticipation of large baby and possible complications
  • Maternal health complications
  • Labor that is unusually long or short
  • Mother or child had harmful reactions to anesthetics/analgesics
  • Mother had unusual complications during pregnancy

Some very specific signs of negligence may include:

  • Misrecording of due dates by the prenatal care provider
  • Failure to perform, or misreads of ultrasounds
  • Failure to perform, or improper performance of non-stress test
  • Failure to properly evaluate third trimester bleeding
  • Failure to recognize or treat maternal infections such as herpes, CMV, or Group B Strep
  • Failure to correctly interpret fetal monitor strips
  • Failure to diagnose or respond properly to fetal distress
  • Failure to assign properly qualified personnel to perform a delivery anticipated to be difficult
  • Failure to properly estimate fetal weight prior to labor and delivery
  • Failure to properly use and monitor Pitocin (a labor drug)
  • Failure to recognize or respond to a detached placenta
  • Failure to recognize or respond to a prolapsed umbilical cord
  • Improper use of forceps or vacuum
  • Failure to adequately resuscitate a newborn baby who is in distress at birth

A Birth Injury Legal Network lawyer can help you identify these and other signs of negligence.

Damages in a Birth Injury Case
Once a clear case of negligence has been established, you birth injury lawyer will decide on a dollar figure to cover lifetime medical costs and emotional damages. Your birth injury attorney will help you decide on a reasonable figure based on economic costs and non-economic factors, such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, physical impairment/disability and loss of enjoyment of life. A money award can't take away the pain and trauma that the injury caused you and your child, but it can help you cope. The last thing your family needs to worry about is money. We want you to be able to focus on helping your child deal with his or her birth injury.

*If you suspect medical negligence may have played a part in your child's birth injury, call 1-800-732-5243 right away. Each state has a specific statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases.*

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