Celebrating the arrival of a new baby should be a time of joy. While it’s common knowledge that complications can arise when giving birth to a child, the challenges become even more overwhelming if your child experiences an injury due to a doctor’s negligence. Unfortunately, this negligence can result in preventable birth injuries during pregnancy or delivery.
If your child has an injury due to a medical team’s misstep, you do not have to simply accept it and move on. If you’re in a situation involving potential medical malpractice, it’s important to consult an attorney. That’s where the outstanding team at the Law Offices of Steve Newman in New York City comes in.
With his decades of experience, Steve Newman is ready to guide you through the maze of filing a malpractice claim against the doctor, hospital, or birthing center that caused your child’s injury.
Give our New York City birth injury law firm a call. Our first meeting with you is free, so you have nothing to lose by getting our input on your case. Let’s partner together and make sure your child gets the protection they deserve.
What Are the Most Common Kinds of Birth Injuries?
As you might expect, some birth injuries are more common than others due to the unique stressors of childbirth. Here’s a list of the most common birth injuries.
- Asphyxia. Asphyxia occurs when the child can’t breathe normally. During the birth process, it can happen when the child has birth fluid in their lungs or has the mother’s umbilical cord wrapped around his/her neck.
- Brain hypoxia. A common consequence of asphyxia, hypoxia means that the brain isn’t getting the oxygen it needs. This can have life-shattering effects on the child, including brain damage and complete brain death.
- Cerebral palsy. This medical condition manifests as various movement problems. Your child might have tremors, weak or stiff muscles, and bad coordination.
- Brachial plexus injuries. The brachial plexus is a network of nerves near the base of the neck. A slip of a medical instrument can damage the brachial plexus, leading to nerve damage and paralysis.
- Erb’s palsy. When the baby’s shoulder gets caught on the mother’s pubic bone or grabbed in the wrong way by a doctor, the damage to the nerves in the shoulder can lead to paralysis of the baby’s arm.
- Bone fractures. While not nearly as permanent as the previously described birth injuries, bone fractures can cause your child immense pain and delay their development.
While these are the most common birth injuries, they are by no means an exhaustive list. Many other birth injuries can affect the baby’s life and complicate parenting. Talk to our experienced New York CIty birth injury attorney to learn more.
What Causes Birth Injuries?
When birth injuries stem from the mistakes of medical professionals, they may be more than mere mistakes. They may rise to the level of medical malpractice. Here are some medical actions that lead to birth injuries:
- Missing or ignoring medical emergencies. Sometimes, doctors miss the big red flags. For instance, they might not notice when the umbilical cord goes into knots around the baby’s neck and causes oxygen deprivation.
- Medication mishaps. Getting the right medications to the mother and her child during the birthing process is absolutely vital. Therefore, mixing up medications or giving the wrong doses can compromise the birthing process and lead to catastrophe.
- Instrument misuse. Doctors often use forceps, scalpels, extractors, and many other potentially dangerous tools during birth. Using these tools incorrectly can cause a birth injury.
- Timing troubles. Inducing delivery too early or too late can cause multiple complications.
- Failure to order genetic testing. A misstep like this can form the basis for a medical malpractice claim, especially if a timely diagnosis would have resulted in a better outcome.
- Delivery room techniques. Sometimes a medical team’s delivery technique deviates from standard medical practice or ignores the unique circumstances of your child’s birth. These deviations from proper delivery practice can lead to significant birth injuries, including various palsies and irreversible physical harm.
How Can I Prove My Birth Injury Lawsuit in Court?
Proving your birth injury lawsuit requires fulfilling several key elements. The four elements you need to prove in a medical malpractice case are as follows:
Duty
You need to show the healthcare provider had a duty of care to you and your baby. All healthcare providers owe their patients a duty to act competently. The standard of care will vary from specialty to specialty.
Breach
There must be a breach of duty. You must prove the medical team breached their duty of care by falling below accepted standards. It means showing that the care was not what a reasonably skilled medical professional would provide under similar circumstances.
Cause
The third element you must prove in a medical malpractice case is causation. You need to be able to prove a medical staff or healthcare professional’s mistake caused your child’s injury.
Damages
You need to show the impact and the actual harm caused by a breach of duty. In birth injury cases, this could mean proving negligence caused from physical harm to the child and emotional and financial strains on the family.
Each of these elements must be proven to win your case. Fortunately, an experienced birth injury attorney can help you so you can win your case.
Let The Law Offices of Steve Newman Take on Your Case Today
Getting through the aftermath of a birth injury can take an intense emotional and physical toll. At times, you may feel the temptation to forego legal action and simply move on. However, by doing so, you may sacrifice compensation you desperately need to care for your child.
Our legal team at the Law Offices of Steve Newman is ready to step in and help you get the justice you need. When you hire Steve Newman to be your legal representative, he will act as a dedicated advocate who will orchestrate every detail of your case with precision and passion. With a track record of turning legal challenges into triumphs, Steve Newman is the ally you need to achieve the best outcome for your case.
The Law Offices of Steve Newman offers both legal expertise and emotional support having been initially trained as a social worker. From gathering evidence and expert testimony to maneuvering through the legal complexities of medical malpractice, we handle every part of your birth injury lawsuit. Call us today for a free consultation, 800-690-9880.